Diopatra cuprea

About this species

Diopatra cuprea, commonly known as the plumed worm, decorator worm or sometimes ornate worm, is a species of polychaete worm in the family Onuphidae, first described by the French entomologist Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc in 1802. It is native to the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Diopatra cuprea”, 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: 84 records
February: 115 records
March: 59 records
April: 117 records
May: 126 records
June: 138 records
July: 321 records
August: 411 records
September: 234 records
October: 49 records
November: 56 records
December: 74 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–25 m · Deepest record: 537 m

0–10 m: 688 records
10–20 m: 221 records
20–30 m: 106 records
30–40 m: 39 records
40–50 m: 10 records
50–60 m: 10 records
60–70 m: 6 records
70–80 m: 3 records
80–90 m: 2 records
90–100 m: 4 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 12–29 °C

10–12 °C: 2 records
12–14 °C: 64 records
14–16 °C: 49 records
16–18 °C: 9 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 186 records
24–26 °C: 252 records
26–28 °C: 66 records
28–30 °C: 3 records

Photos

(c) Tom and T Herman, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Sinéad Tuttle-Lerner, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jacob Weston, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) mfeaver, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ken D., some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Nathan May, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mary Spilman, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

Names in 1 more languages

French: Néréide cuivrée

Other scientific names: Diopatra brasiliensis, Diopatra fragilis, Diopatra frontalis, Diopatra spiribranchis, Diopatra variegata, Nereis cuprea

Similar species

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).
1,567 open-data records from 1802 to 2023.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.