Y-patterned moray

Amazing fact

The Y-patterned moray has dark speckles inside its mouth.

Museums Victoria

Y-patterned moray in its habitat (illustration)

No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.

An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The Y-patterned moray has dark speckles inside its mouth.

SourceMuseums Victoria — Y-patterned Moray, Gymnothorax berndti Snyder 1904

THE REAL WORLD

The real Y-patterned moray

Scientific name: Gymnothorax berndti
Japanese name: ハワイウツボ
Group: Ocean animals

Order: Anguilliformes
Family: Muraenidae
Genus: Gymnothorax

Facts about the real animal.

Where the name “Y-patterned moray” comes from

The name berndti honors Mr. Berndt, a fisheries inspector in Honolulu.

Museums Victoria

It lives from Shizuoka, Wakayama and Okinawa to the western Indian Ocean, the western Pacific and the Hawaiian Islands.

鳥羽水族館 — ハワイウツボ

Its name includes "Hawaii," but it is not a fish of Hawaii alone.

鳥羽水族館 — ハワイウツボ

The "Y" in its English name comes from the net-like pattern on its body, which looks like the letter Y.

鳥羽水族館 — ハワイウツボ

How the Y-patterned moray lives

During the day it hides among rocks. At night it leaves its rocky shelter and swims around looking for food. It lives on deep reefs in areas with rocks and sponges.

新潟市水族館マリンピア日本海 Museums Victoria

Basic data

Range: Okinawa Islands, Penghu Islands, Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, western Indian Ocean, western Pacific, Hawaii, and elsewhere

鳥羽水族館

Where the Y-patterned moray has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesJapan Asia World oceans Ocean

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: ハワイウツボ
简体中文: 班氏裸胸鳝
繁體中文: 班第氏裸胸鯙
Español: Morena de Berndt
Português (Brasil): Moréia-padrão-de-y

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — ハワイウツボChecked: 2026-11-04
新潟市水族館マリンピア日本海 — ハワイウツボChecked: 2026-11-07
Museums Victoria — Y-patterned Moray, Gymnothorax berndti Snyder 1904Checked: 2026-11-07

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

Report a mistake