---
title: "Snowflake Moray"
description: "Echidna nebulosa — Fish. The snowflake moray (Echidna nebulosa), also known as the clouded moray among many vernacular names, is a species of marine eel of the family Muraenidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/snowflake-moray
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Snowflake Moray

> Echidna nebulosa — Fish. The snowflake moray (Echidna nebulosa), also known as the clouded moray among many vernacular names, is a species of marine eel of the family Muraenidae.

- Scientific name: *Echidna nebulosa*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 4078
- Wikidata: [Q614326](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q614326)
- iNaturalist taxon: [54441](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/54441)

## Names

- en: Snowflake Moray
- de: Sternfleckenmuräne
- es: Morena estriada
- fr: Murène étoilée
- pt: Moreia-estrelada

## Countries with the most observations

US (864), ID (562), PH (408), AU (353), TW (167), CR (119), MX (109), EG (99), PA (92), ZA (81), PF (80), MV (73)

## Summary

The snowflake moray (Echidna nebulosa), also known as the clouded moray among many vernacular names, is a species of marine eel of the family Muraenidae. It has blunt teeth ideal for its diet of crustaceans, a trait it shares with the zebra moray (Gymnomuraena zebra).
Its Hawaiian name is puhi-kapa, which originates from King Kamehameha I's nickname. The genus name is derived from the Greek word echidna meaning "viper", and the species name, nebulosa, originates from the Latin word nebulosus meaning "misty" or "cloudy".
It is widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific area from the eastern coast of Africa throughout Micronesia…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake_moray

## Photo

![Snowflake Moray](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/snowflake-moray/medium.jpg)

Photo: rochard · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90059999

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/snowflake-moray?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).