Common clione

Clione limacina

Molluscs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth8–173 m
Water temperature-2–24 °C
Best monthsJuly, August, and September
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) Tine Kinn Kvamme, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Tine Kinn Kvamme · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Clione limacina, known as the naked sea butterfly, sea angel, and common clione, is a sea angel found from the surface to greater than 500 m (1,600 ft) depth. It lives in the Arctic Ocean and cold regions of the North Atlantic Ocean. It was first described by Friderich Martens in 1676 and became the first gymnosomatous "pteropod" to be described.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Clione limacina”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 321 records
February: 370 records
March: 675 records
April: 822 records
May: 1,021 records
June: 1,356 records
July: 1,702 records
August: 2,292 records
September: 1,387 records
October: 884 records
November: 426 records
December: 250 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 8–173 m · Deepest record: 10,000 m

0–10 m: 5,221 records
10–20 m: 563 records
20–30 m: 597 records
30–40 m: 413 records
40–50 m: 261 records
50–60 m: 400 records
60–70 m: 327 records
70–80 m: 1,248 records
80–90 m: 115 records
90–100 m: 132 records
100–110 m: 399 records
110+ m: 2,312 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -2–24 °C

-2–0 °C: 56 records
0–2 °C: 78 records
2–4 °C: 21 records
4–6 °C: 64 records
6–8 °C: 47 records
8–10 °C: 148 records
10–12 °C: 195 records
12–14 °C: 42 records
14–16 °C: 3 records
16–18 °C: 1 records
18–20 °C: 2 records
20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 4 records

Photos

(c) Tine Kinn Kvamme, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Tine Kinn Kvamme · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tine Kinn Kvamme, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Tine Kinn Kvamme · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Zakqary Roy, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Aleksandr Novikov, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tine Kinn Kvamme, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Common clione, Naked sea butterfly, common clione, naked sea butterfly, Sea Angel

Names in 6 more languages

German: Meeresengel, Nackter Seeschmetterling
Spanish: Ángel del mar
French: Ange des mers
Japanese: ダイオウハダカカメガイ
Thai: นางฟ้าทะเล, นางฟ้าทะเลธรรมดา
Simplified Chinese: 流冰天使

Other scientific names: Clio borealis, Clio limacina, Clio miquelonensis, Clione borealis, Clione filifera, Clione gracilis, Clione kinkaidi, Clione lebouri, Clione minuta, Clione papilionacea, Trichocyclus dumerilii

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).
12,220 open-data records from 1905 to 2024.
Species data updated November 1, 2026.

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