Heavenly Wart Slug

Phyllidia coelestis

Nudibranchs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth6–20 m
Water temperature19–29 °C
Best monthsMarch, April, and May
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Phyllidia coelestis is a species of sea slug, a nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Phyllidiidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Phyllidia coelestis”, 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: 137 records
February: 148 records
March: 177 records
April: 186 records
May: 176 records
June: 136 records
July: 159 records
August: 165 records
September: 126 records
October: 166 records
November: 138 records
December: 171 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 6–20 m · Deepest record: 50 m

0–10 m: 25 records
10–20 m: 77 records
20–30 m: 9 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 19–29 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 2 records
24–26 °C: 52 records
26–28 °C: 42 records
28–30 °C: 142 records

Photos

(c) Bernie Wong, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Pierre Pericard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Heavenly Wart Slug, Sky Blue Phyllidia

Names in 4 more languages

French: Phyllidie céleste
Japanese: ソライロイボウミウシ
Thai: ทากเปลือยปุ่มเหลือง
Simplified Chinese: 天空葉海牛, 天空葉海蛞蝓

Other scientific names: Phyllidia alia

Similar species

Elegant Phyllidia
Phyllidia elegans
Ocellated Wart Slug
Phyllidia ocellata
Black-rayed phyllidia
Phyllidia picta
Variable Wart Slug
Phyllidia varicosa
Polkadot Nudibranch
Phyllidia polkadotsa
Pustular phyllidia
Phyllidiella pustulosa

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).
686 open-data records from 1905 to 2026.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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