Club-spined Scale Worm

Gastrolepidia clavigera

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth1–26 m
Water temperature24–29 °C
Best monthsFebruary, May, and November
How commonRare

All species

Photo credit: (c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Dan Schofield · CC BY · iNaturalist

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 9 records
February: 21 records
March: 14 records
April: 18 records
May: 28 records
June: 5 records
July: 19 records
August: 19 records
September: 9 records
October: 15 records
November: 26 records
December: 13 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–26 m · Deepest record: 26 m

0–10 m: 11 records
10–20 m: 15 records
20–30 m: 5 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–29 °C

24–26 °C: 16 records
26–28 °C: 28 records
28–30 °C: 29 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Club-spined Scale Worm, Sea Cucumber Scale Worm

Names in 2 more languages

French: Ver commensal des holothuries
Japanese: ナマコウロコムシ

Other scientific names: Gastrolepidia amblyophyllus, Gastrolepidia amblyphyllus, Polynoe freudenbergi

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.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
159 open-data records from 1861 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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