Tube eels
Tube eels | ||||||||||||
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Earmark tube eel ( Heteroconger hassi ) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Heterocongrinae | ||||||||||||
Günther , 1870 |
The tube eels (Heterocongrinae) are a subfamily of the conger eels (Congridae), which includes two genera and 35 species . Both genera differ in their mouth shape.
distribution
Tube eels occur in tropical shallow water regions with high currents in the Atlantic , Pacific , Indian and Red Sea at depths of 10 to 30 meters.
Way of life
They live in colonies of a few to thousands of animals, on sandy ground in tubes that they dig themselves with their hard, sharp digging tails. At the end of the tail there is also a gland that can secrete large quantities of a secretion that solidifies the tube walls and prevents the sand from trickling down. They stay with their abdomen constantly in the tubes, the front body sways back and forth when snapping at zooplankton .
If a predator or some other larger living being approaches, the whole colony slowly disappears into the ground even at a great distance. Tube eels are the only vertebrates that have an almost sessile , entrenched way of life.
Multiplication
Before mating, the neighboring males, still stuck in the tubes, threaten each other with wide open mouths. The pairing itself is described differently in the literature. According to Patzner and Moosleitner, the males leave the tubes and come to the females. Eichler and Myers write that the tube is never left and that only neighboring animals move towards each other through the sand, but that the abdomen always remain in their own tube.
In any case, the males wrap around the females so that the sexual openings are close together. The large eggs are released in this position. Larvae and fry are just as unknown as the formation of a colony.
The spotted tubular eel or earmarked tubular eel ( Heteroconger hassi ), which was only discovered in the 1950s, received its species name in honor of the Austrian diving pioneer and ichthyologist Hans Hass .
Genera and species
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Gorgasia Meek & Hildebrand, 1923
- Gorgasia barnesi Robison & Lancraft, 1984
- Gorgasia cotroneii D'Ancona, 1928
- Gorgasia Galzini Castle & Randall, 1999
- Gorgasia hawaiiensis Randall & Chess, 1980
- Gorgasia inferomaculata Blache, 1977
- Gorgasia japonica Abe, Miki & Asai, 1977
- Gorgasia klausewitzi Quéro & Saldanha, 1995
- Pearl tube eel ( Gorgasia maculata ) Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959
- Gorgasia naeocepaea Böhlke, 1951
- Gorgasia naeocepaeus Böhlke, 1951
- Gorgasia obtusa Garman, 1899
- Magnificent tube eel ( Gorgasia preclara ) Böhlke & Randall, 1981
- Gorgasia punctata Meek & Hildebrand, 1923
- Red Sea Tube Eel ( Gorgasia sillneri ) Klausewitz, 1962
- Gorgasia taiwanensis Shao, 1990
- Gorgasia thamani Greenfield & Niesz, 2004
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Heteroconger Bleeker, 1868
- Heteroconger balteatus Castle & Randall, 1999
- Heteroconger camelopardalis Lubbock, 1980
- Heteroconger canabus Cowan & Rosenblatt, 1974
- Heteroconger chapmani Herre, 1923
- Heteroconger cobra Böhlke & Randall, 1981
- Heteroconger digueti Pellegrin, 1923
- Heteroconger enigmaticus Castle & Randall, 1999
- Earmarked tube eel ( Heteroconger hassi ) Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959
- Heteroconger klausewitzi Eibl-Eibesfeldt & Köster, 1983
- Heteroconger lentiginosus Böhlke & Randall, 1981
- Heteroconger longissimus Günther, 1870
- Heteroconger luteolus Smith, 1989
- Heteroconger obscurus Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959
- Heteroconger pellegrini Castle, 1999
- Black tube eel ( Heteroconger perissodon ) Böhlke & Randall, 1981
- Striped tube eel ( Heteroconger polyzona ) Bleeker, 1868
- Taylor's tube eel ( Heteroconger taylori ) Castle & Randall, 1995
- Heteroconger tomberua Castle & Randall, 1999
- Heteroconger tricia Castle & Randall, 1999
literature
- Robert A. Patzner, Horst Moosleitner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 6 , Mergus-Verlag, Melle 1999, ISBN 3-88244-116-X .
- Dieter Eichler, Robert F. Myers: Korallenfische Zentraler Indopazifik , year publisher, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-86132-225-0 .
Web links
- Tube eels in the marine lexicon (German)