Corals, sea urchins, sponges, worms and other animals of Somalia: 650 species

In short

On 12 November 2026 the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the international open database of species records, held records of 650 animal (corals, echinoderms, sponges, worms and others) species with Somalia as the country, in 13 groups (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia).

The largest groups by number of species on record are (GBIF Backbone Taxonomy):

• Cnidaria: 241
• Echinodermata: 132
• Annelida: 105
• Brachiopoda: 58
• Porifera: 36
• Rotifera: 19
• Chordata: 19
• Platyhelminthes: 15
• Nematoda: 8
• Sipuncula: 6

Most often recorded

The species with the most GBIF records from Somalia are Somalirhynchia africana (25), Frenulina cruenta (23), Spiral Wire Coral (16), Daghanirhynchia daghaniensis (14), Stellasteropsis fouadi (14), Stereocidaris indica (12) (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia).

380 of the 650 species have a single record from Somalia (same source).

Named after Somali places

33 species on this list carry Somalia or a Somali place in their scientific name, for example Somalidrilus elongatus, Prionospio somaliensis, Somalirhynchia subversabilis, Rhynchonella somalica, Somalirhynchia africana, Somalirhynchia bihendulensis, Somalirhynchia bihenensis, Somalirhynchia stefaninii, Somalirhynchia tumida, Striithyris somaliensis, Argyrotheca somaliensis, Somalithyris bihendulensis, Somalithyris macfadyeni, Loboidothyris jubaensis, Aulacothyris jubaensis, Somalitela ambalensis, Bolocera somaliensis, Phelliactis somaliensis, Eleutherobia somaliensis, Alveopora somaliensis (GBIF Backbone Taxonomy).

Species under threat

The IUCN Red List places these species in a threatened category (GBIF species API, IUCN Red List category):

• Critically Endangered: massive starlet coral (IUCN via GBIF)
• Vulnerable: Deepwater coral, Sandfish (IUCN via GBIF)

How to read this list

A species is on this list when GBIF holds at least one record of it from Somalia. A record can be a museum specimen more than a century old, a sighting shared by an observer, or a specimen cited in a scientific paper. Some records are old and a few may be misidentified, so this is a list of records, not of what lives in Somalia today. Names follow the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, which can lag behind the newest research.

Red List summary

• Critically Endangered (CR): 1
• Endangered (EN): 0
• Vulnerable (VU): 2
• Near Threatened (NT): 0
• Least Concern (LC): 11
• Data Deficient (DD): 5
• Not Evaluated (NE): 631

Categories are from the IUCN Red List as published through GBIF (GBIF species API, IUCN Red List category).

Largest families

• Naididae: 19 species
• Diphyidae: 16 species
• Nereididae: 15 species
• Merulinidae: 15 species
• Terebratulidae: 13 species
• Rhynchonellidae: 11 species
• Astrocoeniidae: 11 species
• Nephtheidae: 10 species
• Holothuriidae: 10 species
• Caryophylliidae: 9 species

Full list (650 species)

Each name links to its Calankii page where one exists, otherwise to its GBIF species page. "Records in Somalia" is the number of GBIF occurrence records with Somalia as the country, counted on 12 November 2026 (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia). The same rows, with Wikidata ids and more columns, are in the open data file species-recorded-in-somalia.csv.

This list is in 5 parts: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

This list is in 5 parts: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Sources

• GBIF occurrence search, country Somalia
• GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species