White-ring garden eel

The white-ring garden eel (Heteroconger canabus), also known as the Cape garden eel in Mexico,^[3] is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels).^[4] It was described by Garry I. McTaggart-Cowan and Richard Heinrich Rosenblatt in 1974, originally under the genus Taenioconger.^[5] It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the Gulf of California, in the eastern central Pacific Ocean. It is known to dwell at a depth of 20 m (66 ft), and inhabits sand sediments near reefs, where it forms burrows in nonmigratory colonies. Males can reach a maximum total length of 80 cm (31 in; 2.6 ft).^[4]

White-ring garden eel
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Anguilliformes
Family:	Congridae
Genus:	Heteroconger
Species:	H. canabus
Binomial name
Heteroconger canabus (Cowan & Rosenblatt, 1974)
Synonyms[2]
Taenioconger canabus Cowan & Rosenblatt, 1974

The white-ring garden eel's diet consists of zooplankton.^[6] It is currently listed as Data Deficient at the IUCN redlist due to dispute over its taxonomy, although it notes that if valid, the species may be under threat as a result of inhabiting an intrareef region in a range restricted to 1,000 km².^[7]