Heteroconger cobra Böhlke & Randall, 1981
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
Heteroconger cobra, sometimes known as the cobra garden eel, is a species of garden eel of the family Congridae, found in the western Central Pacific from Honiara, the Solomon Islands to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
They occur in colonies, on sloping sand bottoms. They are known to be very frightened of humans. When they are spotted, these eels dart back into the holes in which they live.
Wikipedia contributors, Heteroconger cobra; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:47:53.929597+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Heteroconger cobra Böhlke & Randall, 1981
- Name authority
- Böhlke & Randall, 1981
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Congridae
- Genus
- Heteroconger
- 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
- genusHeteroconger Bleeker, 1868
- speciesHeteroconger cobra Böhlke & Randall, 1981
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Heteroconger. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Heteroconger congroides (D'Ancona, 1928) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cortez garden eelHeteroconger digueti (Pellegrin, 1923) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger enigmaticus Castle & Randall, 1999 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger hassi (Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger klausewitzi (Eibl-Eibesfeldt & Köster, 1983) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger lentiginosus Böhlke & Randall, 1981 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger obscurus (Klausewitz & Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1959) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| speckled garden eelHeteroconger pellegrini Castle, 1999 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger tomberua Castle & Randall, 1999 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger balteatus Castle & Randall, 1999 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger mercyae Allen & Erdmann, 2009 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Heteroconger fugax Koeda, Fujii & Motomura, 2018 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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.
- Böhlke, J. E., & Randall, J. E. (1981). Four new garden eels (Congridae, Heterocongrinae) from the Pacific and Indian oceans. Bulletin of Marine Science, 31 (2): 366–382. 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:3L8RJ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.