Garden Eels Rising from a Sandy Slope

Garden eels got their name from the way a colony looks from a distance, like a bed of plants swaying in the current. Each one keeps its tail anchored in its own burrow and leans out to snatch plankton drifting past. Swim too close and the whole garden sinks into the sand. Dozens of spotted ones rise from a sunlit slope of white sand in the garden eel jigsaw puzzle, their yellow eyes turned the same way. Around them there's nothing but sand and clear blue water.