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Spotted garden eel
Heteroconger hassi
Valid name.
- English
- Spotted garden eel
- Scientific
- Heteroconger hassi
- Dhivehi
- Ven
- Group
- Eels
- Maximum size
- About 40-45 cm
- Depth and habitat
- Sandy slopes and channels with current, about 1 to 50 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2016
Description
A thin, pale eel with two large dark spots behind the head and many tiny dark spots. Colonies of hundreds live in individual burrows in the sand, each eel standing upright with its tail anchored and facing into the current to pick zooplankton from the water. They never leave their burrows entirely, and pairs breed between neighbouring burrows. When threatened the whole colony sinks out of sight.
In the Maldives
Large colonies occur on sandy slopes inside Maldivian atolls and in channels; they withdraw into the sand as divers approach.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Heteroconger-hassi.html
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=12619&GenusName=Heteroconger&SpeciesN
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Rörålar.jpg
Dhivehi name source: FishBase common names (country: Maldives) (Latin only). 'Ven' is the general Dhivehi word for eel, not a species-specific name.