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Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) >
Congridae (Conger and garden eels) > Heterocongrinae
Etymology: Heteroconger: Greek, heteros = other + Latin, conger = conger (Ref. 45335); mercyae: Named for Mercy Paine, who discovered the eel colony and helped us collect the type specimens.
Eponymy: Mercy Paine (d: 1998) discovered the eel colony and helped the authors to collect the type specimens during a diving cruise with her family. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
Environnement : milieu / zone climatique / profondeur / gamme de distribution
Écologie
marin récifal; profondeur 4 - 10 m (Ref. 90102). Tropical
Western Pacific: Philippines, Indonesia (Kaiman, West Papua), but likely to occur as far east as Rabaul, New Britain (based on an underwater photo).
Taille / Poids / Âge
Maturité: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 67.8 cm TL mâle / non sexé; (Ref. 82435)
Description synthétique
Clés d'identification | Morphologie | Morphométrie
Rayons mous dorsaux (Total) : 578 - 629; Rayons mous anaux: 390 - 432; Vertèbres: 204 - 213. This relatively slender species has the following distinct set of characters: dorsal-fin origin anterior to gill opening; with pterygoid teeth; body depth at gill opening 28.8-35.2% of HL; preanal vertebrae 62-71 (mean = 65), total vertebrae 204-213 (mean 207.4) ; preanal lateral-line
pores 63-69; body colouration consisting of zebra-like black and white barring on head grading to complex black and white maze pattern on body (Ref. 82435).
Body shape (shape guide): eel-like; Cross section: circular.
Collected from a single colony, occupying about 100 sq. m with approximately 50 eels at 5-6 m depth. The bottom is fine, silty sand and influenced by a freshwater stream along the adjacent shoreline, about 100 m distance, with the nearest reef formation about 50 m from the site (Ref. 82435).
Cycle de vie et comportement reproducteur
Maturité | Reproduction | Frai | Œufs | Fécondité | Larves
Allen, G.R. and M.V. Erdmann, 2009. Heteroconger mercyae, a new species of garden eel (Congridae: Heterocongrinae) from West Papua, Indonesia. aqua, Int. J. Ichthyol. 15(3):135-142. (Ref. 82435)
Statut dans la liste rouge de l'IUCN (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))
Menace pour l'homme
Harmless
Utilisations par l'homme
Outils
Articles particuliers
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Sources Internet
Estimations basées sur des modèles
Température préférée (Réf.
123201): 28.1 - 29.2, mean 28.8 °C (based on 246 cells).
Indice de diversité phylogénétique (Réf.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00102 (0.00046 - 0.00225), b=3.06 (2.88 - 3.24), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref.
93245).
Niveau trophique (Réf.
69278): 3.4 ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Résilience (Réf.
120179): Milieu, temps minimum de doublement de population : 1,4 à 4,4 années (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnérabilité de la pêche (Ref.
59153): Moderate to high vulnerability (47 of 100).
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