Why are conger eels washing up on our beaches?

Two conger eels have washed up on local beaches in the last week, prompting concern from some members of the public.
The eel in Ferring. Photo by Cathy RandallThe eel in Ferring. Photo by Cathy Randall
The eel in Ferring. Photo by Cathy Randall

The first was spotted on the beach near the Blue Bird Café in Ferring on Monday afternoon by dog walker Holly Asargiotakis – read the full story here.

Worthing and Adur’s coastal office confirmed the creature was a conger eel, which are native to the UK’s waters.

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The second was spotted by musician Richard Durrant on Shoreham Beach, also on Monday – read the full story here.

The eel on Shoreham Beach. Photo by Richard DurrantThe eel on Shoreham Beach. Photo by Richard Durrant
The eel on Shoreham Beach. Photo by Richard Durrant

Mr Durrant said he also came across ‘dozens of starfish, lobsters, crabs’ along the high tide line which he said had all been ‘mangled’ and ‘smashed up’.

The shoreline looked like a graveyard, he said, adding: “It was dreadful, it was carnage.”

He believes the strandings were linked to supertrawlers and other large fishing vessels off the Sussex coast.

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But Steve Savage, the Sussex regional co-ordinator for the Sea Watch Foundation, who is also a zoologist, said it was difficult to be sure.

“At this stage, from a scientific point of view its difficult to know if the super trawlers are the cause of the conger eel deaths,” he said.

“Mass strandings of marine life have occurred in many other years, before the super trawlers arrived.

“Such mass stranding events often coincide with winter storms so its difficult to be sure at this stage.”

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Conger eels live in holes and crevices, as well as offshore rocky habitats, he said.

They also live beneath both of Brighton’s piers and possibly Worthing pier too.

“These eels are largely nocturnal and only leave their rocky homes at night as hunter scavengers,” he said. “Adults spawn in the mid Atlantic.

“They are not a commercially fished species and it is suggested that they are discarded as bycatch when accidentally caught.”

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On Wednesday, a common dolphin was found dead on Southwick beach with a rope tied around its tail.

The Brighton Dolphin Project said the animal has ‘clearly been the victim of Bycatch’ – read the full story here.

The European conger eel can grow to more than 6ft in length and some have been known to attack humans.