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Heteroconger
Spotted garden eels, Heteroconger hassi
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Actinopterygii
Order:
Anguilliformes
Family:
Congridae
Subfamily:
Heterocongrinae
Genus:
Heteroconger Bleeker, 1868
Type species
Heteroconger polyzona
Bleeker, 1868
Species
See text
Heteroconger is a genus of marine congrid eels. These small, slender garden eels live in groups where each individual has its own burrow. Usually, only the head and front half of the body is visible. The greatest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific, but species are also found in the warmer parts of the Atlantic (including the Caribbean) and the eastern Pacific. Its name relates to how a huge colony of the eels looks swaying in the current.
The garden eel is roughly 40 cm (16 in) long. The eel has large eyes compared to its body, and a weak sense of smell because of its tiny nostrils. It is timid around other animals and people, but slightly aggressive towards other males of its species. If it feels threatened, it retreats into its burrow and closes it with a mucus block so the predator cannot dig into its home. It has a gland in its tail that secretes a sticky substance that keeps the burrow from falling in on itself and burying the garden eel in sand. Scientists have yet to figure out the garden eel's lifespan in the wild.
The garden eel is a carnivore, and eats plankton. Because of its large eyes, it relies mostly on sight to find its food. It catches the plankton by staying in its burrow and swaying its head about to catch the plankton drifting by in the current.
Garden eels are sexual reproducers and sexually dimorphic. In the mating season, the eels move their burrows closer together, until they are within reaching distance. Then, the male picks which female he wants to mate and defends her viciously, biting at the head and even the eyes of any other suitors. The couple mates and the female releases the fertilized eggs, letting them float away and gather around the epipelagic zone. The garden eels develop and hatch out of their eggs while floating in the water and, when they are large enough, swim down to a sand bed and dig a burrow of their own.
One of its top predators, the Pacific snake eel, Ophicthus triserialis, burrows into the sand near a colony, then digs under a garden eel's burrow and grabs its tail. This all happens under the substrate, where the unsuspecting garden eel cannot see what is happening. Trigger fish scare the garden eels into retreating into their burrows, then dig them up and devour them.
Heteroconger is a genus of marine congrid eels. These small, slender garden eels live in groups where each individual has its own burrow. Usually, only...
The spotted garden eel (Heteroconger hassi) is a species of heteroconger belonging to the family Congridae. It is native to the Indo-Pacific. The spotted...
Heteroconger obscurus, the obscure garden eel, is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Wolfgang Klausewitz and Irenäus...
Heteroconger congroides is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Umberto D'Ancona in 1928, originally under the genus...
Heteroconger tomberua is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Peter Henry John Castle and John Ernest Randall in 1995...
Heteroconger balteatus is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Peter Henry John Castle and John Ernest Randall in 1999...
Heteroconger chapmani is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Albert William Herre in 1923. It is a marine, tropical...
The zebra garden eel (Heteroconger polyzona), also known as the banded garden eel, is a species of eel in the conger/garden eels family Congridae. It was...
Heteroconger camelopardalis is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Hugh Roger Lubbock in 1980. It is a non-migratory...
The black garden eel (Heteroconger perissodon) is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by James Erwin Böhlke and John...
Heteroconger mercyae, or Mercy's garden eel, is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Gerald R. Allen and Mark van Nydeck...
Heteroconger cobra, sometimes known as the cobra garden eel, is a species of garden eel of the family Congridae, found in the western Central Pacific from...
The yellow garden eel (Heteroconger luteolus) is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by David G. Smith in 1989. It is...
The Galapagos garden eel (Heteroconger klausewitzi) is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt...
The mimic garden eel (Heteroconger pellegrini), also known as the speckled garden eel, is a species of garden eel from the East Pacific. This fish is found...
The brown garden eel (Heteroconger longissimus), also known simply as the garden eel, is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described...
The pale green eel (Heteroconger digueti), also known as the pale garden eel or the Cortez garden eel, is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden...
The enigma garden eel (Heteroconger enigmaticus) is a species of eel in the conger/garden eel family Congridae. The enigma garden eel was first described...
The masked garden eel (Heteroconger lentiginosus) is a type of marine conger found in the Pacific Ocean. They grow up to 37 centimetres (15 in; 1.21 ft)...
species) Subfamily Heterocongrinae (garden eels) Gorgasia (14 species) Heteroconger (21 species) List of fish families Wikimedia Commons has media related...
nebulosus Y Y Brown chromis Chromis multilineata Y Y Brown garden eel Heteroconger longissimus Y Y Brown hoplo Hoplosternum littorale Y Y Brown trout Salmo...
starts to eat desired invertebrates. 100 cm (39.4 in) Spotted garden-eel Heteroconger hassi With Caution NEEDS a very deep substrate (8 inches) and only eats...
Myotis Nystactes, a genus of fishes in the family Congridae, synonym of Heteroconger This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct genera with the...
fasciatum) Pot-bellied seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) Spotted garden eel (Heteroconger hassi) The African forest region, "Congo Expedition", opened in 2000...
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