What Does an Atlantic Garden Eel Look Like?

An Atlantic Garden eel looks like the small eels people buy for their aquariums.  It resembles a large worm and is brownish in color.  Let’s find out more about these interesting eels.

The Atlantic Garden Eel looks like a large brown worm. 

• It has a large eye and its lower jaw is longer than its upper jaw. 
• Its body contains between 157 and 165 vertebrae.
• These eels can range from 8 to 15 inches in length.

Atlantic Garden Eel versus the Brown Garden Eel

To get a better idea of what an Atlantic Garden Eel looks like, it is important to note that these eels resemble Brown Garden Eels, or the Heteroconger halis if you'd prefer to go by the scientific name.  In fact, many times the two different eels are incorrectly named and their names are interchanged. 

• The differences between them are the Brown Garden Eel can be a little longer in length and the colonies are found in a different area of the Atlantic Ocean. 
• The distinction between the Heteroconger longissimus (Atlantic Garden Eel) and the Heteroconger halis (Brown Garden Eel) is mostly locale. They are different species, but not by much.  The longissimus species is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean around Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Yucatan, Antilles, Belize, and Honduras. The halis species is found in the Eastern Atlantic around Madeira, the Canary Islands, and Senegal.    

There are many similarities between these two species, so sometimes it is confusing. 

Other Atlantic Garden Eel Facts

Here are some more facts about the Atlantic Garden Eel:

• The scientific name of the Atlantic garden Eel is Heteroconger longissimus. 
• Its scientific category is the Conger. 
• They are found in the ocean at a depth between 15 and 200 feet, or 5 to 60 meters. 
• Their name comes from the fact that they look like a garden of eels, because most of there upper body stays above the sand. 
• They will eat plankton and detritus and they resemble seaweed or plants.  When they are startled, they retreat back into their burrow in the sand. 
• Their larval lifespan is from six to eight months. 
• The anterior end of these and other garden eels bends into the current, so it can capture the passing food. 
• They move and sway in the current and are interesting to watch.  That is probably why many people put them in their home aquariums.    

Facts About Eels

Eels in general look like slimy snakes and baby eels are called elvers.  Most eels live in the oceans of the world, but you can find some in rivers.

• Some eels are very large, like Moray eels which live in tropical water.

• The Giant Moray Eel can be almost three meters long, or 9.8 feet, and weigh over 36 kg, or 79 pounds.
• Electric eels can emit a 600 volt of electricity.  They are some of the larger eels in the world and can each a length of eight feet or more and can weigh up to 44 pounds.
• Gulper eels have huge mouths and live very deep in the ocean, more than 7500 meters, or 24,606 feet.

Many eels are much smaller than these big guys.  Smaller eels include: garden eels, chain eels, jeweled moray eels, zebra moray eels, wolf eels, and snowflake eels.