right shows this genus is widespread across the globe with a high concentration around the Southwestern Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, with other populations found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean around Latin America and the Eastern Atlantic in the Gulf of Guinea. Reproduction and life span Adults will reproduce sexually with each other. When time for breeding, adults in genus Gorgasia will increase the density of their colonial living until their burrows begin to overlap one another. Males will compete for proximity to a female's burrow, often biting at each other's body and face and in rare instances mortally wounding one another. Garden eels are oviparous and practice external fertilization. This means that a female will expel her eggs into the surrounding substrate and they will be fertilized by the male secreting his sperm onto them. Then, when fertilized, eggs will float to the epipelagic zone of the continental shelf where they will mature and hatch into the larval stage of development called leptocephalus. These larvae will be translucent, a camouflaging technique for the open ocean in order to avoid predation until they are able to mature more. When almost one year of age, the juveniles will begin to form their morphological colorings and will swim to the benthic zone and build their burrows. At this point they are sexually mature and will begin the cycle over again. Although there is variability between the species of this genus, average longevity of life is estimated at 6 years of age for garden eels with the range spanning from 4 years to 10 years. Scientific classification References Taxa named by Seth Eugene Meek Taxa named by Samuel Frederick Hildebrand