CreatureData

Shell worm

Boccardia proboscidea Hartman, 1940

Status not recordedworms

The shell worm (Boccardia proboscidea) is a species in the family Spionidae.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the shell worm

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the shell worm live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the shell worm as introduced in 7 countries, and flagged as invasive in 1 of them.

  1. South Africainvasive
  2. Argentina
  3. Australia
  4. Belgium
  5. France
  6. Ireland
  7. New Zealand

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the shell worm endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the shell worm classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumAnnelida
  3. classPolychaeta
  4. familySpionidae
  5. genusBoccardia
  6. SpeciesBoccardia proboscidea Hartman, 1940

Synonyms Polydora proboscidea

Other names and names in other languages (1)
  • 홀쭉유령얼굴갯지렁이Korean

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the shell worm

Other species in the same genus Boccardia.

CompareShell worm vs Boccardia acusShell worm vs Boccardia androgynaShell worm vs Boccardia basilariaShell worm vs Boccardia berkeleyorum

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the shell worm an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the shell worm as invasive in 1 country: South Africa. It lists it as introduced in 7 in all.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Shell worm (Boccardia proboscidea). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/shell-worm

MLA

“Shell worm (Boccardia proboscidea).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/shell-worm.

BibTeX
@misc{shell_worm_2026,
  title = {Shell worm (Boccardia proboscidea)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/shell-worm},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}