Coral Reef Animals: Garden Eel

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, eighteen to fifteen 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. Further complicating the deferential identification is that they are fairly shy animals and will withdraw into their burrows as divers or snorkelers approach. For snorkelers and scuba divers in other parts of 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 pointing upward. Brown garden eel are found on sand flats in depth of fifteen to two hundred feet, while the yellow garden eel around Florida are generally found in a narrower depth range between sixty and one hundred and forty 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're 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 re-emerging. 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 detritus that drifts by. Since they rarely leave their burrows, they're almost completely dependent on their food supply drifting by them on the current. That's the garden eel."