Bonaire Dive and Adventure

Bubbles from the Naturalist Jerry's tank - by Jerry Ligon

November 2007: Shorttail Snake Eel

These photos of a rare eel, Shorttail Snake Eel (Callechelys guineensis) were photographed in the southern part of Bonaire. The photo on the left was photographed by a friend of Linda Baker on Tori's Reef and the one on the right was photographed by Jim Platz, on the dive site Invisibles, which is adjacent to Tori's Reef. Both eels were photographed within the last 6 months. They show the individual variation that occurs within this species, or the ability of the individuals to vary their colors and we do not know which is involved in the apparent variation. The species as seen on Bonaire, through the data base maintained by REEF, has a sighting frequency of .04%, which is interpreted as only 4 surveys out of 10,000. On a dive on Invisibles, when I first saw and recognized it as a species that I had not seen before, I instantly noticed that it was breathing with very rapid motion, even a description of hyperventilation would fit. Also, it was very shy and difficult for Jim Platz to get close enough to photo. Jim, one who accepts photographic challenges with relish, and one whom I depend on for photos for my articles, went back during the week and, somehow got his photo that you see on the right.

The species is not in the Humann/DeLoach's Reef Fish Identification field guide that most of us use to identify species while diving on Bonaire, but is described in ReefNet CD on fish. Wilk describes the species as attaining a length of 3.5 feet and although rarely seen is found in sandy habitats usually in fairly shallow water.

To add to this snake eel's mystery, during the last week of October, 2007, Michael LaFortune, photo pro at FishEye Photo, videoed a strange eel and showed the video to me, and …bingo, I knew what it was. But, this was the first documentation of Shorttail Snake Eel for Bari Reef, showing the potential of acquiring good photographic or video images of all the strangeness that we come across while diving on Bonaire. A Google search reveals that not much is know about the habits of this species.