Meet the Garden Eel!

Sometimes tough to spot (but always cute to watch!), the garden eel is an awesome little benthic feeder that lives in colonies on sandy bottoms. Though they look small, they can actually grow up to 3 feet in length and stay anchored in their burrows their entire life, only coming out to mate/spawn. Garden eels feed on passing zooplankton in currents, and change their shapes to match the speeds of currents and maximize their feeds. When predators approach, the colony acts like a single organism and retreats into their burrows, often making it tough to spot while diving. These burrows are held together with a mucous secreted through their skin to keep them from caving in.

Have you seen garden eels before? Tell us where below!