Surabaya (Indonesian pronunciation: [suraˈbaja]) (formerly Dutch: Soerabaja/Soerabaia), is the capital of Jawa Timur (East Java), located on northeastern Java island and along the edge of the Madura Strait and the second-largest-city in Indonesia. At the 2010 census, the city had a population over 2.8 million, approximately 6 million as metropolitan, and an 'extended metropolitan area', with more than 9 million inhabitants in several cities and approximately 50 districts spread over non-contiguous urban areas including Gresik, Sidoarjo, Mojokerto and Pasuruan regencies, and locally known as Gerbangkertosusila The national government recognizes only the metropolitan area (Surabaya, Gresik and Sidarjo) as Greater Surabaya (Zona Surabaya Raya) with a population of 6,484,206 (2010), making Surabaya now the third largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, after Greater Jakarta and Greater Bandung.

Surabaya (Suroboyo) is locally believed to derive its name from the words "suro" (shark) and "boyo" (crocodile), two creatures which, in a local myth, fought each other in order to gain the title of "the strongest and most powerful animal" in the area. It was said that the two powerful animals agreed for a truce and set boundaries; that the shark's domain would be in the sea while the crocodile's domain would be on the land. However one day the shark swam into the river estuary to hunt, this angered the crocodile, who declared it his territory. The Shark argued that the river was a water-realm which meant that it was shark territory, while the crocodile argued that the river flowed deep inland, so it was therefore crocodile territory. A ferocious fight resumed as the two animals bit each other. Finally the shark was badly bitten and fled to the open sea, and the crocodile finally ruled the estuarine area that today is the city.

Another source alludes to a Jayabaya prophecy — a 12th-century psychic king of Kediri Kingdom — as he foresaw a fight between a giant white shark and a giant white crocodile taking place in the area, which is sometimes interpreted as a foretelling of the conflict between the forces of the Mongol and those of Raden Wijaya's Majapahit in 1293. The two animals are now used as the city's symbol, with the two facing and circling each other, as depicted in a statue appropriately located near the entrance to the city zoo.

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