Conger eel attack - Ireland

[Mudd]

I have seen conger eels sharing the rocky jetties near the shore with lobsters as well. They seemed content to hang out in their little dens without defensive posturing (as opposed to blue crab), although we kept a bit of distance and the largest was about 4 feet. Perhaps a 2 meter would be a different story...

A comment on the original article (and some here) seems to suggest that attacks may be more regular than I'd think. Are conger attacks common? Do they tend to strike more when they are larger and / or swimming in the open?

 

[koozemani]

New full face mask.

 

[AfterDark]

Somebody here was snorkeling a few months back when a moray appeared from nowhere and latched onto his hand. He eventually managed to get it off but needed many stitches and permanently lost sensation in two fingers when the nerves were cut. Most people don't believe it could ever happen that a free swimming eel in open water would do that, but it happened.

Every living animal we meet in the sea is a wild one. They process things differently then us and react for what to us are unknown reasons.

I generally keep my distance giving the creature the option to move where it wants. I move slowly when taking their pictures, really controlling my breathing or holding my breath with partially filled lungs like I do when I shoot a firearm. I've never been even threaten by anything in the sea but that one very large conger ell I saw one night did indeed scare me just by being there. Even if I had, had a camera that night I wouldn't have taken a picture for IMO a real fear of scaring it into defending itself something I want no part of!

 

[rjk75]

I thought the Congers on this side of the ocean are not aggressive as the Euro ones.