Why are they called garden eels?

Colonies look like swaying plants

What did a Tokyo aquarium ask people to do in 2020?

Video call its eels so they would not forget humans

Garden Eel Quiz: Sand Burrows and Swaying Colonies

This garden eel quiz drifts over a sandy patch near the reef where hundreds of heads sway together. Play 10 interactive questions on colonies that look like underwater gardens, tails anchored in mucus-lined burrows, catching drifting plankton, ducking out of sight when approached, spotted garden eels and a Tokyo aquarium's video calls during 2020 closures.

Start Garden Eel Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Home
Where do garden eels live?
Look
Why are they called garden eels?
Burrow
Where do garden eels keep their tails?
Mucus
How do they strengthen their burrows?
Food
What do garden eels eat?
Shy
What do they do when a diver approaches?
Spotted
Which species has black spots on a pale body?
Leave
How often do garden eels fully leave their burrows?
Tokyo
What did a Tokyo aquarium ask people to do in 2020?
Group
How large can garden eel colonies be?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Where do garden eels live?
Answer: In sandy areas near reefs
They form big colonies.
Q2: Why are they called garden eels?
Answer: Colonies look like swaying plants
Heads poke up like grass.
Q3: Where do garden eels keep their tails?
Answer: In burrows in the sand
Tails stay anchored.
Q4: How do they strengthen their burrows?
Answer: With mucus
It keeps sand from collapsing.
Q5: What do garden eels eat?
Answer: Drifting plankton
They face into the current.
Q6: What do they do when a diver approaches?
Answer: Retreat into their burrows
Colonies vanish in seconds.
Q7: Which species has black spots on a pale body?
Answer: Spotted garden eel
It is common in aquariums.
Q8: How often do garden eels fully leave their burrows?
Answer: Rarely
They stay mostly hidden.
Q9: What did a Tokyo aquarium ask people to do in 2020?
Answer: Video call its eels so they would not forget humans
The aquarium was closed.
Q10: How large can garden eel colonies be?
Answer: Hundreds of eels
They space out evenly.

An Underwater Garden That Hides

Garden eels live in colonies on sandy patches near coral reefs. Each eel keeps its tail anchored in a burrow and stretches its body up into the current, so a colony looks like a field of swaying plants. Colonies can hold hundreds of eels spaced evenly apart.

They strengthen their burrows with mucus to keep the sand from collapsing, and they rarely leave them fully. Facing into the current, they catch drifting plankton. When a diver or predator approaches, they retreat into their burrows, and a whole colony can vanish in seconds.

The spotted garden eel, pale with black spots, is popular in aquariums. In 2020, when a Tokyo aquarium closed during the pandemic, its shy eels began hiding from staff, so it asked the public to video call them and help them stay used to people.

What This Quiz Teaches

Ocean fans will enjoy these questions.

Where garden eels live
How they use burrows
What they eat
How they react to danger
What happened in Tokyo

Did You Know?

Divers approach slowly to see them.
Some species are orange and white.
They are related to conger eels.
Neighbors sometimes squabble.
Night brings them lower in their burrows.