This video was taken at Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA
Introduction and description: The garden eels belong to the conger eel family, Congridae. They are also known as Hass’s Garden Eel. These small thin, tube-like eels burrow into the sand on the sea floor, usually near coral reefs in tropical water. Since they tend to live in large groups, the many eel heads they poke from their burrows will resemble the plants in a garden or a field of seagrass waving softly in the gentle current. They are shy animals and will disappear into their burrows upon approaching a scuba diver which make its photographing a difficult task. Although they are very small compared to other eels but have large eyes indicating their reliance on their sight to capture food. They can grow to over about 30-cm long, but what we see is only part of their bodies as the lower part (with the tail) is buried in the sandy burrow. Garden eels carry no threat to humans, and hence they are kept as pets in salt water aquariums. There are two species of garden eel, Heteroconger cobra, and the spotted garden eel, Heteroconger hassi.
Burrowing behavior: They dig these burrows with their hard-tipped tails using a gland in their tail which secretes a slime that glues the sand in the hole in place and hence keeping the burrow against collapse. Once, the burrow is made, eels rarely leave their burrows completely. However, exposed up-portion of eel body will enable them to feed and to mate.
Feeding habits: They eat without leaving its burrow. With their head exposed, they capture zooplankton as it drifts by in the ocean current. As expected, the stronger the water current, the more abundance will be the food. If the food gets scared, a garden eel takes its whole body into the burrow closing the burrow with a mucus plug to protect itself.
Reproduction: A garden eel may leave its original burrow during spawning season and make a burrow closer to its chosen mate. When mating, the two eels entangle their upper bodies together, while their lower bodies remain in their individual burrows. A female lays her eggs which are fertilized by the male. Fertilized eggs are released into the current. Eggs and larvae float in the current near the surface of the open ocean until the young eels grow large enough to swim down to the sandy floor and make burrows of their own. Immature eels are completely black.
