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Endless Ocean 2 CreaturesBlack Garden Eel →
Black Garden Eel →
The Spotted Garden Eel (Heteroconger hassi) is a small species of eel that appears in the Endless Ocean series.
It is a thin white eel with small black spots all over its body and a larger black spot just behind its head. The name "garden eel" comes from its habit of burying its lower half in the sand and leaving the upper half exposed, like it's sprouting out of the ground.
In-Game[]
Marine Encyclopedia[]
Endless Ocean[]
"These fish have long, narrow bodies with small pectoral fins. They are usually white with dark speckles and have a single large black spot near the gills. They can be seen year-round at sandy shallows all over Manoa Lai.
They live in groups on the sandy ocean floor of coral reefs with half of their body emerging from the sand. This allows them to face the coming tide and feed on any plankton that happen by.
All young eels go through a leptocephalus stage, during which they are thin and ribbon-like. As they grow, they become shorter and more cylindrical, gradually assuming the familiar adult-eel shape."
Endless Ocean 2[]
"This eel has a long, slender white body covered in spots, which are particularly large and noticeable around the gills.
It lives in groups and buries the lower half of its body in the sand near coral reefs. It faces the tide and feeds on plankton swept out to sea in the morning.
It will sometimes move around to find a more suitable area to live in."
[Metamorphosis][]
"Eels have a larval form known as leptocephalus, where their young have a slender, ribbon-like body. These larvae do not resemble adults, but as they develop, their body becomes 20 - 50% shorter and cylindrical, and they gradually become miniature versions of their adult form."
Location[]
Endless Ocean[]
Spotted garden eels can be commonly seen throughout the Manoa Lai main stage, in zooms on sand. A good example of a flat, sandy area with common garden eel sightings is the Entryway Slope, near Comb Reef.
Endless Ocean 2[]
These fish can be found in central Zahhab Region, under zoom-mode glows close to the edges of the Twin Crevasses.
Behavior[]
Endless Ocean[]
Spotted garden eels can be found alone, with other spotted garden eels, or with black garden eels, but they are seldom found with any other animal. If touched at all, they attempt to make a hasty retreat into their burrows. The player should feed them to earn their favor.
Endless Ocean 2[]
As in the first game, they are found with other spotted garden eels or with black garden eels, and dislike being poked or petted. The player can unlock their trivia information by feeding them.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- This is one of Oceana's favorite creatures.
Real-Life Information[]
- The encyclopedia in both Endless Ocean and Blue World makes note of the large black spot near each of the spotted garden eel's gills. This spot is indeed present in real life, but there is another pair of spots about halfway along the body, and another pair near the tail.[1]
- The Marine Encyclopedia states that the spotted garden eel takes advantage of the tide to feed on plankton that get swept by. This is true.[2] Because they rely on water flow for food, they generally prefer areas with strong currents.[3]
- In captivity, they will instead eat standard flake food or brine shrimp.[4] Spotted garden eels are sometimes seen in the standard aquarium trade, but aquarists warn that they should only be kept in specialty tanks with a high level of care, such as in public aquariums or other educational or research settings.[5]
- The spotted garden eel usually lives in large colonies, which is remarked upon by the in-game information. These colonies can be as large as several hundred individual eels.[6] Spotted garden eels make their burrows using their specialized muscular tails to dig a hole and then secreting a slime from their skin that essentially glues the walls of the burrow in place.[7]
- The leptocephalus stage spoken of in-game is a feature of every eel species' life cycle. A singular freshly-hatched eel is oftentimes simply called a "leptocephalus", plural leptocephali. Leptocephali, as well as being long and ribbon-shaped, are also almost entirely transparent.[8]
- Spotted garden eels mate by separately releasing sperm and eggs into the water, and these eggs are transported away from the original colony because spotted garden eels prefer areas of strong current.[9] The resulting leptocephali usually remain fairly close to the shallows despite the current because the eggs are buoyant, so they can drift up to the surface instead of being carried by the water.[7] Originating inside of a colony, rather than being spawned during a migration event, also helps them stay close to shore.[10]
- The spotted garden eel has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution, ranging from the east African coast over to Australia and up to southern Japan.[11] Therefore, their location in the second game is inaccurate; the Zahhab Region, in the Red Sea, is on the north African coast.
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