Spotted Garden Eel

Heteroconger hassi

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anguilliformes
Family: Congridae
Genus: Heteroconger
Species: Heteroconger hassi

The spotted garden eel (Heteroconger hassi) is a slender white eel with dark spots that lives in large colonies on sandy slopes. A large dark spot near the gill and one near the vent are characteristic.

It grows to about 40 cm and feeds on plankton, rising from its burrow into the current. The whole colony vanishes into the sand when disturbed.

In the Philippines it is found on sandy slopes with gentle currents, sometimes in colonies of hundreds.