speckled garden eel
Heteroconger pellegrini Castle, 1999
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 mimic garden eel (Heteroconger pellegrini), also known as the speckled garden eel, is a species of garden eel from the East Pacific. This fish is found at depths of 5–30 m (16–98 ft) from Baja California to Panama.
It reaches 63 cm (25 in) in length. Like other garden eels, it is found in groups in sandy areas. Typically, only its head and upper part of the body protrudes from the sand, and it will retreat entirely if approached by large fish or divers. They feed on zooplankton.
Wikipedia contributors, Mimic garden eel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:32:48.358882+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Heteroconger pellegrini Castle, 1999
- Name authority
- Castle, 1999
- Common name
- speckled garden eel
- 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 pellegrini Castle, 1999
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 cobra Böhlke & Randall, 1981 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| 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 |
| 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.
- Castle, P. H. J. (1999). A new species of garden eel from the eastern Pacific with comments on Heteroconger digueti (Pellegrin) and related nominal species. Bulletin of Marine Science, 64 (3): 407–417. 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:3L8RW. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.