snowflake moray
Echidna nebulosa (Ahl, 1789)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Snowflake moray, Echidna nebulosa in Kona, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii, United States
Brocken Inaglory · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
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 including the Red Sea and to Hawaii. The species is also found in the eastern Central Pacific from southern Baja California, Mexico, and from Costa Rica to northern Colombia.
This species reaches a length of 100 centimetres (39 in) but its common size is 50 centimetres (20 in). They live at depths ranging from 1 and 48 meters.
Wikipedia contributors, Snowflake moray; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:09:32.906450+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Echidna nebulosa (Ahl, 1789)
- Name authority
- (Ahl, 1789)
- Common name
- snowflake moray
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Muraenidae
- Genus
- Echidna
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderAnguilliformes
- familyMuraenidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyMuraeninae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusEchidna Forster, 1788
- speciesEchidna nebulosa (Ahl, 1789)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Echidna. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Echidna unicolor Schultz, 1953 | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Echidna peli (Kaup, 1856) | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| palenose morayEchidna nocturna (Cope, 1872) | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| whiteface morayEchidna leucotaenia Schultz, 1943 | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Echidna rhodochilus Bleeker, 1863 | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Echidna sagamiensis Fujita, Oomori, Senou & Wada, 2026 | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Echidna xanthospilos (Bleeker, 1859) | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Echidna variegata Forster, 1848 Forster, 1848 | synonym |
| Muraena nebulosa Ahl, 1789 Ahl, 1789 | synonym |
| Muraena ophis Rüppell, 1830 Rüppell, 1830 | ambiguous synonym |
| Gymnothorax boschi (Bleeker, 1853) (Bleeker, 1853) | synonym |
| Poecilophis nebulosa (Ahl, 1789) (Ahl, 1789) | synonym |
| Lycodontis boschi (Bleeker, 1853) (Bleeker, 1853) | synonym |
| Muraena boschii Bleeker, 1852 Bleeker, 1852 | synonym |
| Gymnothorax boschii (Bleeker, 1853) (Bleeker, 1853) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=217469 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:6DVPX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.