A silvery-gray conger eel had already gone limp by the time fishermen found it on their trawler, but its shocking length of 7 feet (2.1 meters) still caught them off guard, according to the British company that found the huge eel.

 

Fishermen mistakenly snagged the blue-eyed eel last Thursday off the southwestern coast of the United Kingdom. At the time, they were trawling the area (i.e., dragging nets to catch fish) on an inshore trawler named Hope. The conger eel got stuck in the nets, and was already dead by the time the fishermen hauled it aboard, according to the company, Plymouth Fisheries.

 

Immediately, the fishermen were impressed by its length.

 

In fact, the eel narrowly missed setting a U.K. record. Once gutted, it weighed 131 lbs. (59 kilograms), just shy of the 133.25-lb. (60.44 kg) record for a rod-caught conger eel.

 

Before it was gutted, the eel likely weighed between 155 and 160 lbs. (70 kg to 73 kg), Plymouth Fisheries said.

 

Conger move to very deep water and die after spawning, so like all large congers caught off the Southwest Approaches, the waters off the U.K.'s southwestern coast, this fish is likely to be an unspawned female.

 

Conger eels are typically found hiding among the Southwest's many wrecks, or on reefs and rocky ground, but they do venture out to open ground in search of food, usually during neap tides or slack water. However, despite their size and power, they are not very strong swimmers.

 

 

PHOTO: A 7-foot-long (2.1 meters) conger eel was caught off the southwestern coast of the United Kingdom near Devon.

CREDIT: Plymouth Fisheries.