''Heteroconger'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of marine

congrid The Congridae are the family of conger and garden eels. Congers are valuable and often large food fishes, while garden eels live in colonies, all protruding from the sea floor after the manner of plants in a garden (thus the name). The family in ...

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s. 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 Species richness is the number of different species represented in an community (ecology), ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the Abundance (ecology), abunda ...

is in the

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 ...

, but species are also found in the warmer parts of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

(including the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

) and the eastern

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

. 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 Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

. 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 Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

. 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 The photic zone (or euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone) is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological ...

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.

Species

The currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Heteroconger balteatus''

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

& J. E. Randall, 1999 * '' Heteroconger camelopardalis'' ( Lubbock, 1980) * '' Heteroconger canabus'' ( G. I. McT. Cowan & Rosenblatt, 1974) (white-ring garden eel) * '' Heteroconger chapmani'' ( Herre, 1923) * '' Heteroconger cobra'' J. E. Böhlke & J. E. Randall, 1981 (cobra garden eel) * '' Heteroconger congroides'' ( D'Ancona, 1928) * '' Heteroconger digueti'' ( Pellegrin, 1923) (pale green eel) * '' Heteroconger enigmaticus'' Castle & J. E. Randall, 1999 (enigma garden eel) * '' Heteroconger fugax'' Koeda, Fujii & Motomura, 2018 (shy garden eel) * '' Heteroconger guttatus'' Allen, Erdmann & Mongdong, 2020 (spotted garden eel)Allen, G.R., Erdmann, M.V. & Mondong, M.U. (2020) Heteroconger guttatus, a new species of garden eel (Pisces: Congridae: Heterocongrinae) from West Papua, Indonesia. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 35, 8-17.; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3676001 * '' Heteroconger hassi'' ( Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959) (spotted garden eel) * '' Heteroconger klausewitzi'' ( Eibl-Eibesfeldt & Köster, 1983) (Galapagos garden eel) * '' Heteroconger lentiginosus'' J. E. Böhlke & J. E. Randall, 1981 (masked garden eel) * '' Heteroconger longissimus'' Günther, 1870 (brown garden eel) * '' Heteroconger luteolus'' D. G. Smith, 1989 (yellow garden eel) * †'' Heteroconger mataura'' Schwarzhans, Lee & Gard, 2017 * '' Heteroconger mercyae'' G. R. Allen & Erdmann, 2009 (Mercy's garden eel) * '' Heteroconger obscurus'' (Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959) (obscure garden eel) * '' Heteroconger pellegrini'' Castle, 1999 (mimic garden eel) * '' Heteroconger perissodon'' J. E. Böhlke & J. E. Randall, 1981 (black garden eel) * '' Heteroconger polyzona'' Bleeker, 1868 (zebra garden eel) * '' Heteroconger taylori'' Castle & J. E. Randall, 1995 (Taylor's garden eel) * ''

Heteroconger tomberua ''Heteroconger tomberua'' is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels).''H ...

'' Castle & J. E. Randall, 1999 * '' Heteroconger tricia'' Castle & J. E. Randall, 1999 (Tricia's garden eel)

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q726869 Heterocongrinae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker