Spotted Garden Eel Scientific Name: Taenioconger hassi

From far away, colonies of garden eels look like a field of swaying seagrass. Moving closer, the ‘seagrass’ often disappears. There may be hundreds and even thousands of eels living together in a colony.


Region: Philippines


Appearance

Like a slim straw, spotted garden eels can be up to 16 inches (40 cm) long, although you may never see more than a quarter of their body. They get their name from all the tiny odd-shaped spots covering the body, including three large solid black spots of which only two are generally seen. Large yellow eyes make it easy for the spotted garden eel to spot its tiny food floating in the current.


Habitat

Tightening its very muscular body to make itself rigid, a garden eel drives its pointy tail deep into the sandy sea floor. The skin in the tail contains a hard substance, so it isn't hurt. Once the eel is deep enough, it wiggles its dorsal fin, pushing sand out of the hole. Slime from their skin cements the walls of their burrows, preventing cave-ins. Like many other reef animals, garden eels escape from predators by diving tail-first into reef-bottom burrows. When they're not hiding, these fish sway in the current like blades of seagrass. Each eel lives in a single burrow, which they rarely ever leave.

Spotted garden eels live in colonies on the sand flats and slopes that border coral reefs at depths of 23 to 150 feet (7 to 45 m). Strong currents sweep through these areas, which have lots of sand, crushed coral and tiny mollusk shells. Spotted garden eels will also be found in areas densely populated with seagrass. Living among the seagrass blades makes it easy for these eels to blend in.

Hundreds of spotted garden eels will live together in a colony. The largest colonies, which can include over 1000 eels, are in areas where the current is quick and the sand is deep. The largest males live in the center of the colony, positioning themselves in the best areas to make a home and get food.


Range

Spotted garden eels live in the warm parts of the Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea.


Diet

A hungry garden eel extends most of its body out of its burrow and faces the current. Then the eel sways back and forth, picking tiny animals and eggs from the water that flows by. A single garden eel can eat up to 600 tiny animals in one meal.



Reproduction

Garden eels are sexually dimorphic, which means the males and the females look very different. The male's jaw sticks out further than the females and they are much bigger.

Heading into mating season, males and females move their burrows closer together. Once a male picks a female to mate with, he defends her, keeping other males away. The male strikes at and even bites the head of any brave competitors.

After mating, garden eels release the fertilized eggs into the current—which means they are pelagic spawners. The eggs float in the epipelagic zone or the zone in the open ocean near the surface. Here the eggs hatch out and the larvae float along until they reach a certain size. After they are large enough, the young garden eels swim down and make a burrow of their own.

Threats and Management

Garden eels are the hardest of all eels to keep in the home aquarium. They require lots of special planning and care. These eels need to spread out, so the tank needs to be quite large because if the males are too close to one another, they will fight. The sand also needs to be at least one-half foot deep or the garden eels will hurt their tails by trying to drive into the bottom of the tank when forming their burrow. There also needs to be an artificial current to bring them their live food. All of these factors make garden eels hard to keep at home. Their population remains stable, but if too many are collected in the pet trade and sold in pet stores, they may decline.


Did You Know?

Sneaky snake eels dive deep into the sand, far from a colony of gardens eels. The snake eels then slither their way underneath the garden eels' burrows, attacking them from underneath.

Large triggerfish dive bomb garden eel colonies, digging them out of the sand when the eels try to hide inside.

In the wild, a small percentage of garden eels get a disease called blisterhead. Their head swells up much larger than their body. Blisterhead is caused by an infection from a parasite.

really interesting .. the creatures of the deep are very wierd and wonderful .