Gorgasia maculata Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The whitespotted garden eel (Gorgasia maculata), also known as the Indian spaghetti eel, is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by Wolfgang Klausewitz and Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt in 1959. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the Indo-Western Pacific, including Maldives, the Solomon Islands, the Philippines, the Cocos Islands, Comoros, India, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It dwells at a depth range of 25 to 48 metres (80 to 160 ft), and lives in non-migratory colonies that form burrows on sandy slopes, usually near coral reefs. Males can reach a maximum total length of 70 centimetres (28 in).
Due to its wide range and lack of known major threats, the IUCN redlist lists the whitespotted garden eel as Least Concern.
Wikipedia contributors, Whitespotted garden eel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:39:48.980110+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Gorgasia maculata Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959
- Name authority
- Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Congridae
- Genus
- Gorgasia
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderAnguilliformes
- familyCongridae Kaup, 1856
- subfamilyHeterocongrinae Günther, 1870
- genusGorgasia Meek & Hildebrand, 1923
- speciesGorgasia maculata Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Gorgasia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Gorgasia cotroneii (D'Ancona, 1928) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia inferomaculata (Blache, 1977) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia preclara Böhlke & Randall, 1981 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia sillneri Klausewitz, 1962 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia barnesi Robison & Lancraft, 1984 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia galzini Castle & Randall, 1999 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia hawaiiensis Randall & Chess, 1980 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia japonica Abe, Miki & Asai, 1977 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia naeocepaea (Böhlke, 1951) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| peppered garden eelGorgasia punctata Meek & Hildebrand, 1923 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gorgasia taiwanensis Shao, 1990 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Gorgasia maculate Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959 Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959 | synonym |
| Gorgasia maculatus Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959 Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Klausewitz, W., & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. (1959). Neue Röhrenaale von den Maldiven und Nikobaren (Pisces, Apodes, Heterocongridae). Senckenbergiana Biologica, 40 (3/4): 135–153. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3H32X. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.