Name: Georgia Aquarium
Address: 225 Baker St NW, Atlanta, GA, 30313, US
Telephone: +1 404-581-4000

The splendid garden eel lives in a sandy burrow that it digs tail-first. The garden eel then coats the sand walls with mucus from its body to cement the sand grains together to prevent collapse.

Size
Up to 16 inches (41 cm)
Diet
Zooplankton
Range
Indo-Pacific
Habitat
Sandy slopes

Physical Characteristics

Has a whitish, snake-like body covered with yellow to orange colored stripes.
Can grow to about 16 inches (41 cm) in length.
Body diameter to about 0.4 inches (1 cm).
Has large eyes and a small pectoral fin.

Animal Fact
Garden eels use their tails to dig burrows and will rarely leave.

Diet / Feeding

Diet consists of zooplankton it picks from the current as it flows past. For this reason, all the eels in a colony generally face the same direction: into the current.

Range / Habitat

Occurs in tropical Indo-Pacific waters near the Maldives, Philippines and Indonesia; possibly as far south as Fiji.
Found along sandy slopes at depths of 60-265 feet (18-81 m), usually in depths of more than 100 feet (30.5 m).
Lives in a sandy burrow that it digs tail-first. The garden eel then coats the sand walls with mucus from its body to cement the sand grains together to prevent collapse.

Reproduction & Growth

Males and females move burrows to increase proximity during mating season.
Will stretch from adjacent burrows and intertwine bodies to spawn.
Males display protective behaviors toward their female mate, keeping other competitors away. They may bite rivals.
Pelagic spawner: after mating, females will release fertilized eggs into the current.
After the eggs hatch in the current, larvae continue to float until reaching a size threshold. At that point, juvenile garden eels will dig their own burrow.

Conservation Status

“Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List.

Additional Information

Also known as the “orange barred garden eel.”
Live in colonies that can consist of thousands of individuals each occupying its own burrow.
Most commonly seen with just its head and upper body extended out of the burrow, swaying in the current like a blade of seagrass in order to feed on passing plankton.
Easily disturbed and quickly retracts itself, tail first, into its burrow.
Rarely leaves its sand burrow, even to spawn.
This species was discovered when SCUBA diving became popular.