Garden Eel

Photo: Benjamin Turman · © all rights reserved

Spotted garden eels live in dense colonies of hundreds of individuals on sandy slopes at Bharatpur, each anchoring its tail in a permanent burrow and extending its body into the current to pick zooplankton from the passing water. When disturbed by approaching divers they retreat progressively into their burrows in a captivating ripple effect that reveals how acutely attuned they are to changes in water pressure and light. Their filter-feeding provides a direct trophic link between plankton productivity and the benthic reef system.