Taylor's Garden Eel

Taylor's garden-eel is a small fish that can reach a maximum length of 48 cm. Its body is anguiform (eel-like): long, thin, with a circular cross-section (20 mm in average diameter) and a head of the same diameter as the body. The body is white to yellowish and covered with many small black spots with patterns that vary from one individual to another and may include circular mottling or labyrinthine patterns. The dorsal fin always has a simple speckle pattern.

The species is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the western central Indo-Pacific from the Philippines to Papua-New-Guinea and Indonesia. It lives solitary or in small colonies on sandy bottoms in association with seagrass meadows, at depths between 5 and 15 m deep. It digs a burrow from which emerges about a third of its body. The eel then points its mouth towards into the current to catch drifting food.