A colony of eels standing out of the sand, retracting in sequence as a diver crosses it.
To about 40 cm, though only the upper third is normally visible. Pale grey-white covered in fine black speckles with two or three larger black blotches, a blunt head and large eyes. Each eel occupies a permanent burrow lined with mucus, and a colony can hold hundreds of burrows spaced about a body length apart.
The eels stand out of the sand facing into the current, taking zooplankton, and withdraw as a diver approaches — the colony closing progressively ahead and reopening behind, which is how the animal is usually experienced. Photographing them requires either a long lens from outside the colony or settling motionless on the sand at its edge and waiting ten minutes or more for the nearest eels to re-emerge; approaching directly does not work. Colonies are on current-exposed sand slopes, generally below 10 m. Recorded to about 45 m.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
