Teredo navalis, commonly called the naval shipworm or turu, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae. This species is the type species of the genus Teredo. Like other species in this family, this bivalve is called a shipworm, because it resembles a worm in general appearance, while at the anterior end it has a small shell with two valves which is adept at boring through wood. This species may have originated in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, but has spread around the world. It tunnels into underwater piers and pilings and is a major cause of damage and destruction to submarine timber structures and the hulls of wooden boats.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Teredo navalis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens180
BINs1
Marker genes2
eDNA detections179
Countries8
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P675 bp consensus175 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 100% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 2 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens. Showing the 28 commonest of 142 variants.
Diversity (π)0.52%
Haplotypes142
BIN1
Most divergent pair1.2%
EuropeOther
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P18S-5P
animal barcoderibosomal
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type2 291 records
Wild obs. + sensor537
Museum / vouchered1 666
Cultivated / captive2
Fossil3
Other83
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO2 328 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit17
200–1000 m twilight4
1–4 km midnight0
>4 km abyssal0
median 23.8 m · max 290 m · 21 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy43% within 1 km
≤100 m 73≤1 km 54≤10 km 162>10 km 9
298 georeferenced · 239 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor537
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy43% within 1 km
≤100 m 18≤1 km 404≤10 km 512>10 km 53
987 georeferenced · 679 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 666
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km
≤100 m 2
2 georeferenced
Open the mapnot free-living2
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions14 of 42 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Cambridge, US
674
Philadelphia, US
172
Sydney, AU
89
Toyama, JP
76
Museums Victorialocation not on record
52
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
38
Gyeryonsan Natural History Museumlocation not on record
13
CASlocation not on record
10
Gothenburg, SE
7
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
7
Maurice Lamontagne Institutelocation not on record
4
Nishinomiya Shell Museumlocation not on record
3
NTNU-VMlocation not on record
3
Chicago, US
3
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
3
Deutsches Zentrum fuer Marine Biodiversitaetsforschunglocation not on record
3
Barcelona, ES
3
Gifu prefectural Museumlocation not on record
2
BioFokuslocation not on record
2
Florida Atlantic University, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Museumlocation not on record
1
Paris, FR
1
New Haven, US
1
UM-RSMASlocation not on record
1
UGentlocation not on record
1
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
1
Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
1
DASSHlocation not on record
1
The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record
1
Universidad Católica del Nortelocation not on record
1
Stockholm, SE
1
South Kensington, GB
1
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record
1
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
1
Delaware Museum of Nature and Sciencelocation not on record
1
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
1
Washington, US
1
Saint John, CA
1
University of Barcelona, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Scienceslocation not on record
1
Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC)location not on record
1
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
1
MZLUlocation not on record
1
Copenhagen, DK
1
42 institutions · 1 187 of 1 666 vouchered records shown · 25 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA179 detections
Where the DNA of Teredo navalis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found179
Studies independent surveys1
Countries6
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 179 detections have coordinates
Open the map6 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median13.2 °C -0.2–17.5
Seasonal swing summer↔winter17.7 °C
Max temp (day)17.4 °C 2.20–21.7
Min temp (night)9.50 °C -2.80–12.9
Precipitation69.9 mm/mo 51.4–91.0
Air humidity60.2 % 58.1–68.9
Moisture balance-17.2 mm/mo -50.0–48.6
Vapour deficit574 Pa 192–811
Wind speed3.20 m/s 2.50–4.50
Cloud cover37.9 % 30.8–54.0
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 107 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation19 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 696 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System595 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI179 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics180 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗