#4910 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co

Hilgendorf's Sea Spider

🇳🇱 Zebrazeespin ·Ammothea hilgendorfi

🪼 Jellyfish, starfish, worms & co 📍 in the Netherlands

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Ken-ichi Ueda · CC BY 4.0
2. © Damon Tighe · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Robin Gwen Agarwal · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. Redwood City, CA:© Robin Gwen Agarwal · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. Morro Bay, CA, USA:© no rights reserved · CC0
6. Zeeuwse meren, 158_13_400, NL:© Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. Los Angeles, California, United States:© Cedric Lee · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, CA 92107, USA:© Lisa Biasillo · CC BY 4.0
9. Orange County, CA, USA:© alanarama3 · CC BY-NC 4.0
10. Solent Way, Lee-On-The-Solent, England, GB:© Kitty Turner · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

Ammothea hilgendorfi is a species of Sea spider of the family Ammotheidae described by Böhm in 1879. According to the Global Invasive Species Database, A. hilgendorfi is native to the intertidal zone waters of the North Pacific Ocean, but is considered an invasive species in European waters.

base stats

NL sightings 14iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 196iNaturalist observations

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

Spotted 14 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
196 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.

fact sheet

English: Hilgendorf's Sea Spider
Nederlands: Zebrazeespin
scientific name: Ammothea hilgendorfi
class: Pycnogonida
order: Pantopoda
family: Ammotheidae
sightings in NL: 14
sightings in Europe: 31
sightings worldwide: 196
GBIF records in NL: 556
weight: —
length: —
lifespan: —

Sources: iNaturalist taxon 51489, Wikidata Q2082712, GBIF 5166760, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.