Brown garden eels

On sandy bottoms around reefs, we often encounter colonies of brown garden eels, at depths from 15 feet to 90 feet.  They can be found as deep as 200 feet, well below the limits of non-technical diving.  Their length ranges from 8 to 16 inches, but as the tail of the eel remains in its burrow, it is hard to guess the length of the ones that we see.  The heads and upper bodies wave gracefully above the burrow as they search for prey in the plankton that zips by.

These photos were taken at about 75 feet.  The garden eels are rather shy, and retreat into their burrows when approached (by divers or predatory fish).

A view of the colony