Flabby bristle-worm

About this species

Flabelligera is a genus of polychaetes in the family Flabelligeridae. Species are common around the world, in both temperate and cold waters. Flabelligera species have long, club-like papillae, which are encased in a smooth mucus sheath. They also have a distinct cephalic cage, and hooked neurochaetae which they use to hold onto rocks.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Flabelligera”, 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: 47 records
February: 22 records
March: 110 records
April: 109 records
May: 93 records
June: 89 records
July: 120 records
August: 336 records
September: 231 records
October: 81 records
November: 55 records
December: 22 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–249 m · Deepest record: 2,668 m

0–10 m: 176 records
10–20 m: 63 records
20–30 m: 69 records
30–40 m: 152 records
40–50 m: 96 records
50–60 m: 28 records
60–70 m: 12 records
70–80 m: 9 records
80–90 m: 8 records
90–100 m: 9 records
100–110 m: 9 records
110+ m: 106 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -1–29 °C

-2–0 °C: 18 records
0–2 °C: 5 records
2–4 °C: 3 records
4–6 °C: 4 records
6–8 °C: 4 records
8–10 °C: 85 records
10–12 °C: 292 records
12–14 °C: 366 records
14–16 °C: 4 records
16–18 °C: 22 records
18–20 °C: 6 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 3 records
24–26 °C: 1 records
26–28 °C: 0 records
28–30 °C: 2 records

Photos

(c) Rebekah Bajkó, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Steven Farquhar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Steven Farquhar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rebekah Bajkó, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Echo Severs, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Shane Austin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard Picton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Flabby bristle-worm

Names in 2 more languages

French: Ver de l'hiver
Japanese: カンテンハボウキ

Other scientific names: Chloraema dujardini, Chloraema dujardinii, Chloraema edwardsii, Chloraema pellucidum, Flabelligera marenzelleri, Siphonostoma buskii, Siphonostoma gelatinosa, Siphostoma uncinata, Tecturella flaccida

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).
2,043 open-data records from 1897 to 2023.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.