Common fifteen-scaled worm

Harmothoe imbricata

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth1–37 m
Water temperature-1–27 °C
Best monthsMay
How commonCommon

All species

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 128 records
February: 123 records
March: 524 records
April: 1,006 records
May: 2,260 records
June: 1,051 records
July: 750 records
August: 906 records
September: 713 records
October: 637 records
November: 660 records
December: 168 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–37 m · Deepest record: 3,520 m

0–10 m: 3,221 records
10–20 m: 1,463 records
20–30 m: 309 records
30–40 m: 158 records
40–50 m: 173 records
50–60 m: 93 records
60–70 m: 75 records
70–80 m: 37 records
80–90 m: 19 records
90–100 m: 14 records
100–110 m: 12 records
110+ m: 101 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -1–27 °C

-2–0 °C: 6 records
0–2 °C: 10 records
2–4 °C: 18 records
4–6 °C: 12 records
6–8 °C: 4 records
8–10 °C: 39 records
10–12 °C: 476 records
12–14 °C: 145 records
14–16 °C: 26 records
16–18 °C: 2 records
18–20 °C: 9 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 6 records
24–26 °C: 8 records
26–28 °C: 5 records

Photos

(c) Ian Manning, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Vsevolod Rudyi, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rebekah Bajkó, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Steven Farquhar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Common fifteen-scaled worm, Fifteen-scaled worm, Free-living scale worm, common fifteen-scaled worm, Common Fifteen-scaled Worm, Fifteen-scaled Worm, Free-living Scale Worm

Names in 2 more languages

German: gemeiner Schuppenwurm, Gemeiner Schuppenwurm
Japanese: マダラウロコムシ

Other scientific names: Aphrodita cirrata, Aphrodita imbricata, Aphrodita lepidota, Aphrodita plana, Aphrodita varians, Aphrodita violacea, Harmothoe hartmanae, Harmothoe levis, Harmothoe maxillospinosa, Harmothoe unicolor, Lepidonote cirrata, Polynoe (Harmothoe) imbricata, Polynoe complanata, Polynoe imbricata, Polynoe incerta

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).
11,229 open-data records from 1767 to 2024.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.

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