#2196 · 🐟 fish
Mediterranean Moray
🇳🇱 Moeraal ·Muraena helena
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The Mediterranean moray (sometimes also called Roman eel , Muraena helena , زريمباية ) is a fish of the moray eel family. It has a long eel-like body and is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Its bite can be dangerous to humans.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 4,779 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Mediterranean Moray
- Nederlands
- Moeraal
- scientific name
- Muraena helena
- class
- Actinopterygii
- order
- Anguilliformes
- family
- Muraenidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 4,105
- sightings worldwide
- 4,779
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Muraenidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 118590, Wikidata Q13222818, GBIF 2404329, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.