The Hawaiian garden eel (''Gorgasia hawaiiensis'') is an
eel
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
in the family
Congridae
The Congridae are the family of conger and garden eels. Congers are valuable and often large food fishes, while garden eels live in colonies, all protruding from the sea floor after the manner of plants in a garden (thus the name). The family inc ...
(conger/garden eels).''Gorgasia hawaiiensis'' at www.fishbase.org. It was described by
John Ernest Randall
John Ernest "Jack" Randall (May 22, 1924 – April 26, 2020) was an American ichthyologist and a leading authority on coral reef fishes. Randall described over 800 species and authored 11 books and over 900 scientific papers and popular articles. ...
ef. 6924
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Arts and entertainment
* Ef (band), a post-rock band from Sweden
* ''Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two.'', a Japanese adult visual novel series by Minori, or its anime adaptations
Businesses and organizations
* Eagle Forum, an ...
''A new species of garden eel (Congridae: Heterocongrinae) of the genus Gorgasia from Hawaii.'' Pacific Science v. 33 (no. 1): 17-23. It is a
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
,
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
eel which is known from the
Hawaiian archipelago
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
(from which its species epithet is derived), in the eastern central
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
. It is non-migratory, and is thought to be restricted to the region. It dwells at a depth range of , and leads a
benthic
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...
life, forming burrows in sand. Males can reach a maximum
standard length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology.
Overall length
* Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...
of .
This eel appears during sunrise and returns to its
burrow
An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow
A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of sh ...
around sunset, making it a diurnal animal. Although burrows of this eel are more abundant in shallow water, larger burrows belonging to this eel can be found in deeper water.
The Hawaiian garden eel's diet consists of
zoobenthos
Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.Food items reported for ''Gorgasia hawaiiensis'' at www.fishbase.org.