Fanged Sea Butterfly
Cavolinia inflexa
- Usual depth38–100 m
- Water temperature13–30 °C
- Best monthsMarch, November, and December
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, 일부 권리 보유 (CC BY), uploaded by Saryu Mae 前 朝琉 · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Cavolinia inflexa is a species of small pteropod. Cavolinia inflexa are members of the thecosome pteropod genus that dwell in the epipelagic zone feeding on arctic snow and smaller microorganisms. While it is known that Cavolinia inflexa are filters feeders, their reproductive tendencies and behaviors are not well studied. They can be used as a proxy for assuming climatic conditions for a particular period and have been a focus of ocean acidification impact studies.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Cavolinia inflexa”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 140 records
- February: 132 records
- March: 161 records
- April: 122 records
- May: 150 records
- June: 106 records
- July: 99 records
- August: 95 records
- September: 97 records
- October: 111 records
- November: 163 records
- December: 159 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 38–100 m · Deepest record: 4,766 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 13–30 °C
Photos
(c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Julien Renoult, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Mathijs Zonneveld, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Fanged Sea Butterfly, Inflexed Cavoline
Names in 4 more languages
- French
- Cavoline incurvée
- Japanese
- マサコカメガイ
- Korean
- 긴꼬리납작거북고둥
- Simplified Chinese
- 寬彎龜螺, 潛水艇駝蝶螺
Other scientific names: Archonta explorata, Cavolinia curvata, Cleodora curvata, Cleodora pleuropa, Hyalaea depressa, Hyalaea elongata, Hyalaea inflexa, Pleuropus pellucidus
Similar species
Leaf Sea ButterflyCavolinia tridentata
Gibbose CavolineCavolinia gibbosa
Globe Sea ButterflyCavolinia globulosa
Hooked cavolineCavolinia uncinata
Long-Snout CavolineDiacavolinia longirostris
Three-spine cavolineDiacria trispinosa
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 2,463 open-data records from 1813 to 2026.
- Species data updated November 1, 2026.
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