Striped Eel Gendia
A small aquatic omnivore found in zone 28, they evolved from Gendia gobinsus that ventured into deeper waters due to intraspecific competition, they grow to 5–6cm and are much longer and thinner than G. gobinsus so they can hide in tight holes and crevices but normally they hang out along the sea floor.
G. tigrus lives deeper out in zone 28, although individuals can still be found living in rock pools among the shoreline. Due to the deeper parts of the ocean having less hiding areas they have resorted to hiding in the substrate more often, even staying buried for long periods of time because of this they have developed longer, thinner bodies and more rounded paddle shaped tails to help move through and displace substrate. They use it to hunt or forage without getting spotted by predators, often eating food with only their heads sticking out, or even dragging the food item under the substrate.
Male G. tigrus are a yellow color with black banding on their back and orange and blue stripes on their sides, females are a pale greyish yellow with grey and black banding on their back and blueish grey splotches scattered on their sides. The male coloration indicates their fitness to the females as it makes them stand out more to predators.
During the breeding G. tigrus will gather together into shoals of 10-16 individuals and swim over the sea floor to find areas to spawn. They are polyandrous, a single female will select several males to mate with, in order to give their offspring more genetic diversity. The sediment gets kicked up as the eggs are fertilized which helps cover up the eggs. Once they are done mating they pair off with other G. tigrus and swim off until it’s time to mate again. Juvenile G. tigrus live most of their life in the substrate, pairing up with each other and dispersing upon reaching adulthood until it’s time to mate.
