Updated for Java Edition 26.3 (October 2026).
Small End islands is the biome of open void between the big islands of the outer End, dotted with little floating chunks of End stone. It is the most common biome out there: in our sample of 300 Java 26.3 seeds it covered 44% of the End area we checked. No end cities or chorus plants generate in it, and endermen are the only mob. It starts about 1,000 blocks from the End’s center.
| Dimension | The End (outer End) |
|---|---|
| Where it generates | Everywhere in the outer End that isn’t a large island, from about 1,000 blocks out |
| How common | 44% of the End in our sample, more than any other End biome |
| Distance from 0,0 | Starts about 1,000 blocks from the End’s center in every seed (our sample) |
| Mobs | Endermen only |
| Notable blocks | Small floating End stone islands |
| Structures | None (end cities need the End highlands or midlands) |
| Biome ID | minecraft:small_end_islands |
What the small End islands biome is
The outer End is split into four biomes. Three of them make up the large islands: the End highlands at their centers, then the End midlands and the End barrens at their edges. Everything between the large islands is small End islands: mostly empty void, with the odd little island of End stone floating in it. In our sample it bordered the End barrens 79% of the time and the End midlands 21%, which matches that picture: you cross the barrens at an island’s edge and step off into it.
| End biome | Share of the End (our sample) | What’s there |
|---|---|---|
| Small End islands | 44% | Void and tiny End stone islands |
| End midlands | 25% | Island slopes, end cities |
| End highlands | 17% | Island centers, chorus plants, end cities |
| End barrens | 11% | Island edges |
| The End (central island) | 3% | The main island and the void around it |
How to get to the small End islands
The central island sits inside a ring of void, and the outer End, small End islands included, only starts about 1,000 blocks from the center. In all 300 seeds of our sample, the first outer biomes appeared right at that distance. The usual way out is an End gateway: each time you defeat the Ender Dragon, a new gateway portal appears near the edge of the main island, and throwing an ender pearl into it sends you to the outer End.
These Java 26.3 seeds have small End islands just past the 1,000-block ring. Coordinates are End coordinates, checked at block level, and the map links open in the End.
| Seed | Small End islands at | From 0,0 | Map |
|---|---|---|---|
6344123284989658485 |
X -906, Z -974 | 1,330 blocks | Open on the map |
547032377997846341 |
X -198, Z -1122 | 1,139 blocks | Open on the map |
-9083720909831523632 |
X -814, Z -754 | 1,110 blocks | Open on the map |
With cheats on, /locate biome minecraft:small_end_islands finds the nearest one from wherever you are in the End.
Why you’d go there (and why you mostly won’t)
There is little to collect: some End stone on the floating bits, and endermen to farm for ender pearls. No chorus plants grow and no end cities generate here: chorus plants only grow in the End highlands, and end cities, with their elytra and shulkers, generate in the highlands and midlands. Mostly, the small End islands biome is the gap you cross between large islands, with an elytra or by bridging. Don’t fall: there is nothing under the void.
What changed in 2025-26
In The Copper Age (Java 1.21.9, September 2025), the End gained sky flashes: from time to time a purple flash lights up the whole dimension with a rumbling sound, which you can turn off with the “Hide Sky Flashes” accessibility option. In Wilderness Bound (Java 26.3), a long-standing bug was fixed that made outer End terrain fail to generate in rings around the End’s center. Source: the official 1.21.9 and 26.3 release notes.
How we measured
The numbers on this page come from our own seed map engine, running Java Edition 26.3 world generation. We generated 300 random seeds and sampled every 16th block across a 10,240 by 10,240 block square of the End centered on 0,0. “How common” is each biome’s share of those samples, including the central island; “distance from 0,0” is how far the nearest sample of the biome was. The seeds above were picked from the same run, and each coordinate was re-checked at block level.
