Giant conger eel landed by Plymouth fisherman

An eel taller than a double-decker bus has been caught by fisherman off the British coast.

The 20-foot conger eel was accidentally caught in the nets of a trawler off Plymouth in Devon.

Photos of the said catch was posted on social media following its capture, before it was sold via an auction. “Sadly it was never measured before it went to auction but the fisherman who caught it estimated it was ‘about 10 feet in length,” a spokeswoman for Plymouth Fisheries told Sky News. “Possibly the perspective of the hanging photograph does make it look longer, it looks shorter in other photos and eels stretch out when hung.” The eel was sold at $80 per kilogram at the auction.

According to Pete Bormley, who is the manager of Plymouth Fisheries, huge eels usually hide in the wrecks of the South West, or on reefs and rocky parts of the ocean hence, referring to the recent catch as unusual. However, these creatures go to the open ground, particularly in slack water and neap tides, when looking for food.

Congers are one of the largest types of eels, with some of them reaching to 0 feet in length. Although they have immense power and big size, these eels are not known to have strong swimming abilities. The largest conger ever caught was said to have weighed approximately 158 kilograms, and was caught in Iceland’s Westmann’s Island.

Agencies/Canadajournal