Dappled Taco Slug

About this species

Elysia rufescens is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Plakobranchidae. This sea slug resembles a nudibranch but is not classified in that order of gastropods, instead belonging to a closely related clade, Sacoglossa, the "sap-sucking" sea slugs. This species was first described by Pease from Tahiti in 1871.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Elysia rufescens”, 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: 28 records
February: 35 records
March: 17 records
April: 14 records
May: 20 records
June: 16 records
July: 12 records
August: 13 records
September: 22 records
October: 20 records
November: 15 records
December: 17 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–10 m · Deepest record: 15 m

0–10 m: 44 records
10–20 m: 5 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–29 °C

18–20 °C: 2 records
20–22 °C: 6 records
22–24 °C: 9 records
24–26 °C: 32 records
26–28 °C: 5 records
28–30 °C: 3 records

Photos

(c) Susan Prior, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jay Paroline, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rachael Kaiser, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Daniel Eisenhauer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Daniel Eisenhauer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Dappled Taco Slug, Reticulated Sap Sucking Slug

Names in 3 more languages

French: Elysie roussâtre
Japanese: クシモトミドリガイ
Simplified Chinese: 橙緣白斑海天牛

Other scientific names: Pterogasteron rufescens

Similar species

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).
83 open-data records from 1987 to 2026.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.