T-bar Pantechnicon Dorid

Ceratosoma trilobatum

Nudibranchs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth7–22 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsAugust, September, and October
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

About this species

Ceratosoma trilobatum is a species of colorful dorid nudibranch, a sea slug, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Ceratosoma trilobatum”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 38 records
February: 94 records
March: 96 records
April: 113 records
May: 104 records
June: 79 records
July: 87 records
August: 114 records
September: 126 records
October: 132 records
November: 91 records
December: 67 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 7–22 m · Deepest record: 85.5 m

0–10 m: 17 records
10–20 m: 65 records
20–30 m: 20 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 2 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

18–20 °C: 8 records
20–22 °C: 44 records
22–24 °C: 35 records
24–26 °C: 30 records
26–28 °C: 18 records
28–30 °C: 147 records

Photos

(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jay Paroline, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard Picton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Heine Jensen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: T-bar Pantechnicon Dorid, Three Horned Nudibranch, Three-lobed T-bar Nudibranch

Names in 5 more languages

French: Cératosome trilobé
Japanese: ニシキウミウシ
Korean: 긴꼬리갯민숭이
Thai: ทากเปลือยอานม้า
Simplified Chinese: 三葉角質海蛞蝓, 對翼多彩海蛞蝓, 角質海麒麟

Other scientific names: Ceratosoma berghi, Ceratosoma caledonicum, Ceratosoma corallinum, Ceratosoma cornigerum, Ceratosoma gibbosum, Ceratosoma lixi, Doris trifida, Doris trilobata, Polycera cornigera

Similar species

Anna's Chromodoris
Chromodoris annae
Chromodoris colemani
Elisabeth's Chromodoris
Chromodoris elisabethina
Pyjama Rainbow Dorid
Chromodoris lochi
Magnificent Chromodoris
Chromodoris magnifica
Broken-line Rainbow Dorid
Chromodoris strigata

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
423 open-data records from 1850 to 2026.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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