Page 345 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

BONY FISHES 343

ORDER ANGUILLIFORMES These eels spend their lives swaying body. It has an upturned mouth that is underwater because they are able
gracefully to and fro with their heads designed to pick tiny planktonic to detect the vibrations from a scuba
Spotted Garden Eel up in the water and their tails in their animals from the water as the current diver’s air bubbles and will disappear
sandy burrows. Several hundred fish flows by. Colonies of these eels occur when they are approached.
Heteroconger hassi live together in a colony, or “garden,” only on sandy slopes that are exposed Spotted garden eels stay in their
LENGTH looking like evenly spaced plants to currents but sheltered from waves. burrows even when spawning.
Up to 16 in (40 cm) blowing in the breeze. Garden eels When danger threatens, the eels sink Neighboring males and females reach
WEIGHT are much slimmer than their close back down into their burrows, using across and entwine their bodies before
Not recorded relatives, the conger eels. They are their tails as an anchor until only their releasing eggs and sperm. Mixed
1
DEPTH only about /2 in (14 mm) in diameter small heads and eyes are visible. They colonies of spotted and whitespotted
23–150 ft (7–45 m) and have very small pectoral fins. The are very difficult to photograph garden eels sometimes occur.
DISTRIBUTION Red Sea and tropical waters of Indian spotted garden eel usually has two
Ocean and western Pacific large dark spots behind the head as
well as many tiny ones all over the

hard,
pointed
tail tip long,
slender
tail
distinctive
banded
markings
tiny
ORDER ANGUILLIFORMES eventually be identified as a different eyes
species. The banded snake eel has
Banded Snake Eel a pointed head with a pair of large
tubular nostrils on the upper jaw that
Myrichthys colubrinus point downwards. This arrangement
LENGTH gives the fish an excellent sense of
Up to 38 in (97 cm) smell that allows it to seek out prey
WEIGHT hidden beneath the sand surface. wide The gulper eel is best known for its
Not recorded With only tiny pectoral and long mouth ability to swallow prey as large as itself.
DEPTH dorsal fins, the banded snake eel This fish has a small head and tiny
Shallow water swims by undulating its long body. eyes but enormous jaws. Its mouth
DISTRIBUTION Tropical waters of Indian Ocean and When not hunting, it buries itself in ORDER SACCOPHARYNGIFORMES and throat can be hugely distended
western Pacific the sand using the hard, pointed tip to engulf its prey and the teeth can be
of its tail to burrow in tail-first. These Gulper Eel depressed backward. Its stomach can
Cleverly disguised to look like the fish are most active by night. They be similarly extended to accommodate
venomous yellow-lipped sea krait, the tend to remain in their burrows Saccopharynx lavenbergi its gargantuan meals. The body ends in
banded snake eel is avoided by most during the day and so are not often LENGTH a luminous organ on a long, whiplike
predators. This allows it to hunt safely seen by divers. Up to 5 ft (1.5 m) tail. This feature may be used as a lure
over sand flats and seagrass beds The banded snake eel belongs to WEIGHT or a decoy; this has yet to be confirmed,
near coral reefs for small fish and a large family (Ophichthidae) which Not recorded since no one has been able to observe
crustaceans. Most individuals of this includes around 250 snake and worm DEPTH 6,600–9,800 ft these deep-sea fish in the wild. The OCEAN LIFE
species are banded with broad black eels, most of which burrow into sand (2,000–3,000 m) gulper eel has planktonic eggs that
and white bands, but in some areas and mud. All the members of this DISTRIBUTION Deep waters of eastern Pacific, from develop into long, thin larvae, like
these eels have dark blotches between family have flattened transparent, California to Peru those of its shallow-water relatives,
the bands. This color variant may leaflike (leptocephalus) larvae. and it probably dies after spawning.