Chromodoris lekker described by Gosliner

October 18, 2005
From: Colin Ogden


Hi Bill,
Here is another new nudi for me. It must be Chromodoris lekker.

Locality: Sodwana Bay, South Africa, Indian Ocean coast. Depth: 12 meters
Length: 30 mm. 15 October 2005. Coral reef. Photographer: Colin Ogden

I am fascinated by the name Terry gave it. One of our local languages is Afrikaans, and in this language the word means "delicious" but has become a slang word used by every one that means extremely good, or very pretty, outstanding or anything that you feel happy about, like instead of having a good day you can have a "lekker" day. Terry obviously learnt this term during his time in South Africa. I have so many people asking me why we cant give the nudi's common names(which was how I used to feel) and I always try to explain the reasons for this, and I think this is a great example of a scientists great sense of humour. I think this is great.
regards
Colin

scubaco@iafrica.com

Ogden C. M., 2005 (Oct 18) Chromodoris lekker described by Gosliner. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15032

Dear Colin,
Thanks for this find. Yes it certainly fits Terry's description of C. lekker, and
Philbert Bidgrain's photo from Reunion Is [#12975] and Kirsty Miller's from Durban [#4495]. Which leaves us with Valda Fraser's [#3154] also from the east coast of Sth Africa, which has the characteristic white specks, but the red spots are in the wrong place and the yellow band, also in the wrong place, appears to be made by the mantle glands rather than skin pigment, as in C. kitae and C. tumulifera. I guess we will have to wait to see whether it is  avariation of C. lekker or a different species.

I'm glad you like 'lekker' as a name. There are quite a few humorous names to be found, unfortunately some are what you might call 'insider jokes' whose meaning will die with those in the know. Others unfortunately have later been shown to be unnecessary, and been replaced by boring 'older' names. One example concerns a little bivalve which Eames & Wilkins (1917) thought belonged to the genus Abra, so they gave it the name Abra cadabra. I understand it is now considered to be synonymous with the older name, and definitely 'serious' name Theora mesopotamica (Annandale, 1918).
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Oct 18). Comment on Chromodoris lekker described by Gosliner by Colin Ogden. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15032

Factsheet

Chromodoris lekker

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