Genus: Gorgasia, Garden Eels

GORGASIA

GARDEN EELS

Body very elongate, compressed; tail much longer than head and trunk; head short, snout very short;  mouth oblique, relatively long (reaches under front of eye), lower jaw distinctly projecting; teeth in narrow bands or single rows, usually a single row on the roof of the mouth an rear of both jaws; top lip flange only on sides of snout; front nostrils (tubular) at front of snout, before lip flanges; rear nostril a hole before eye; pectoral fins relatively large (~ eye size); dorsal and anal fins not confluent around tail; tip of tail a hard round point, without obvious tail fin; lateral line complete; head pores well developed, easily visible; lateral line pores well separated, fewer than number of vertebrae.

A circumtropical genus except for western Atlantic, with ~ 13 species; a single representative in and endemic to the tropical eastern Pacific.