diff --git a/speciesData.py b/speciesData.py
index e92c3ada81d5058909bf07e556fbbefb86426088..2f56fab42cedcce9abb6c3c885f3ff44440b7245 100755
--- a/speciesData.py
+++ b/speciesData.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class SpeciesData:
 
     def clean_string(string):
         if not string is None and string != "":
-            clean_string = string.replace(" ", "_").replace("-", "_").replace("(", "").replace(")", "").replace("'", "")
+            clean_string = string.replace(" ", "_").replace("-", "_").replace("(", "").replace(")", "").replace("'", "").strip()
             return clean_string
         else:
             return string