Undulated moray

Gymnothorax undulatus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth0–24 m
Water temperature19–30 °C
Best monthsFebruary, April, and September
How commonOccasional

About this species

The undulated moray is a moray eel of the family Muraenidae, found in the Indo-Pacific and east-central Pacific Ocean at depths down to 30 m. Their length is up to 1.5 m.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Undulated moray”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 16 records
February: 67 records
March: 21 records
April: 103 records
May: 54 records
June: 36 records
July: 36 records
August: 67 records
September: 96 records
October: 44 records
November: 33 records
December: 28 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–24 m · Deepest record: 360 m

0–10 m: 170 records
10–20 m: 79 records
20–30 m: 31 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 5 records
50–60 m: 3 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 2 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 3 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 19–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 27 records
24–26 °C: 63 records
26–28 °C: 127 records
28–30 °C: 145 records

Names and classification

English: Undulated moray, common Hawaiian moray, Common Moray Eel, leopard moray, Mottled Moray, Mottled Reef-eel, Nami-Utsubo, Undulated Eel, undulated moray, Undulated Moray, Undulated Moray Black Barred Garfish

Names in 4 more languages

Spanish: Morena Ondulada
French: Murène Léopard, Murène léopard, Murène ondulante, Murène ondulée, Murène ondulante, Murène Ondulée
Japanese: nami-utsubo, Namiutsubo, ナミウツボ
Simplified Chinese: 波紋裸胸鯙, 波紋裸胸鱔, 波纹裸胸鳝, 疏斑裸胸鯙, 糬鰻, 薯鰻, 虎鰻, 錢鰻, 青痣, 青頭仔

Other scientific names: Gymnothorax undulates, Lycodontis undulata, Lycodontis undulatus, Muraena cancellata, Muraenophis undulata

Similar species

Lipspot moray
Gymnothorax chilospilus
Fimbriated moray
Gymnothorax fimbriatus
Blackspot Moray
Gymnothorax melatremus
Barred-fin Moray
Gymnothorax zonipectis
Vagrant moray
Gymnothorax buroensis
Abbott's Moray
Gymnothorax eurostus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,110 open-data records from 1803 to 2023.

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