GET /info/species

ensembl.org:ensembl-rest-api

Summary: List all available species
Operation ID: getSpecies
Auth: none

List all species available in the Ensembl database with their assembly information, common names, and database divisions. Returns over 300 species including mammals, vertebrates, plants, and other organisms. Each species entry includes the assembly name, accession, display name, and which Ensembl division it belongs to. Essential for discovering what species identifiers to use in other endpoints.

Original spec description

Lists all available species, their aliases, available adaptor groups and data release.

Usage Tips

- Response can be very large (100KB+ uncompressed) - filter by division if possible - Use `hide_strain_info=1` for a more compact response if you don't need strain details - Common divisions: EnsemblVertebrates, EnsemblPlants, EnsemblBacteria, EnsemblMetazoa, EnsemblFungi - Species names use underscores (e.g., 'homo_sapiens', not 'homo sapiens')

Parameters (3)

division (string, query, optional, default: EnsemblVertebrates)

Filter by Ensembl or Ensembl Genomes division

hide_strain_info (integer, query, optional, default: 0)

Show/hide strain and strain_collection info in the output

Constraints: {'enum': [0, 1]}

strain_collection (string, query, optional)

Filter by strain_collection (e.g., 'mouse')

Examples (4)

TitleTypeURLAction
List all available species curl https://rest.ensembl.org/info/species
List species with division filter curl https://rest.ensembl.org/info/species?division=vertebrates
List species hiding strain information curl https://rest.ensembl.org/info/species?hide_strain_info=1
List all available species probe-gate https://rest.ensembl.org/info/species?division=EnsemblVertebrates&hide_strain_info=0

Probe History

Latency

Status Codes

TimeStatusLatencySize
2026-03-23 10:22:36.260152 200 285ms
2026-03-23 10:16:12.973404 200 650ms
2026-03-23 09:12:25.367481 200 261ms
2026-03-23 09:02:14.529802 200 275ms
2026-03-20T02:16:46.958705 200 355ms

Response Changes

WhenOldNew
2026-03-23 09:02:14.529802 17ddaa465ada 37c3e2a2e02e
2026-03-23 09:12:25.367481 37c3e2a2e02e 30897a640d83
2026-03-23 10:16:12.973404 30897a640d83 45a80f18f924
2026-03-23 10:22:36.260152 45a80f18f924 4dac37e333c7