About Heteroconger hassi (Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959)
The spotted garden eel, Heteroconger hassi, is a small eel-like fish that can reach a maximum total length of 40 centimetres (16 inches; 1.3 feet). Its body is long and thin, with a circular cross-section that averages 14 millimetres (0.55 inches) in diameter, and its head matches the body's diameter. The head looks shortened because the large mouth sits very close to the also large eyes. Its small nostrils are positioned in the center of the upper lip. The adult eel has a white body covered in many small black spots, along with three distinct larger black spots. The first larger spot marks the location of the gill opening and the tiny pectoral fins, the second sits in the central part of the body, and the third surrounds the anus. Juvenile spotted garden eels have very thin, solid black bodies. This species is widespread across the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, ranging from the eastern coasts of Africa including the Red Sea east to Polynesia, and from Japan south to New Caledonia. It lives exclusively in colonies of varying sizes on sandy bottoms exposed to currents, at depths between 15 and 45 meters. The eel digs a burrow, and keeps roughly one third of its body extended outside the burrow, pointing its mouth toward the underwater current to catch drifting food.
