The barred conger (''Ariosoma fasciatum'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

conger eel ''Conger'' ( ) is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to or more in length, in the case of the European conger. Large congers have often been observed by divers during the day in parts of ...

that lives in the tropical western and central

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region. It is also known as the barred sand conger. It is a bottom-dwelling fish and is found in the waters around

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

and some other island groups.

Description

The barred conger is a slender, nearly cylindrical elongated fish which becomes laterally compressed towards the tail. It grows to a length of about and has robust pectoral fins. It has large gill slits immediately in front of the pectoral fin origins. It has between 154 and 159 vertebrae and a long, narrow dorsal fin that runs almost the whole length of the body. The small caudal fin is stiffened and adapted for rapid reverse burrowing into the

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...

. The barred conger has a well-developed

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

and no scales. It is a whitish fish with about twelve irregular dark brown bars on the body and many small dark spots on the head. The dorsal fin has further prominent barring and spotting.

Distribution and habitat

The barred conger is native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Its range includes Madagascar, Indonesia, Taiwan, Sulawesi, the Marshall Islands, the Society Islands, Hawaii and Tahiti. It is found on the seabed where it burrows into sand in lagoons and on reef flats at depths ranging between . It spends the day buried and emerges at night to forage.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1216215 Ariosoma Fish of the Pacific Ocean Taxa named by Albert Günther Fish described in 1872