Garden Eel Identification

Video Transcript

"The marine organism we're going to identify now is the Garden Eel. Garden Eels are small Conger Eels that inhabit burrows into sand flats around the tropical waters of the Caribbean and the Atlantic. There are two species of Garden Eels in Florida and the Florida keys; the brown Garden Eel and the yellow Garden Eel. Since they are similar in size; 8 to 15 inches long and about as big around as a pencil, but generally only have a small portion of their body extended from their burrow. The two species can be very difficult to distinguish. Farther complicating the differential identification is that they are fairly shy animals and will withdraw into their burrows as divers or snorkelers approach. But for snorkelers and scuba divers in other parts in the tropical Americas and Caribbean it is the brown Garden Eel that you will see. They are generally dark brown to gray in color with large dark eyes. Their lower jaw is slightly longer than the upper which makes their mouth look as though it's pointed upward. Brown Garden Eels are found on sand flats in depths of 15 to 200 feet. While the yellow Garden Eels around Florida are generally found in a narrower depth range between 60 and 140 feet. Garden Eels live in colonies that may range in size from a few dozen animals to many hundreds. Large colonies will look almost like a field of grass as they sway back and forth while feeding in the current on the reef. They are almost impossible to approach closely as divers and their bubbles frighten them causing them to retreat into their burrows where they may stay for several minutes before reemerging. I have had some success on occasion with resting quietly on the sandy bottom for a few minutes to get a closer view of a brown Garden Eel as it emerges from its burrow. Garden Eels feed on plankton and dridus that drifts by since they rarely leave their burrows their almost completely dependent on their food supply drifting by them on the current. That's the Garden Eel."