Chromodoris fidelis from Indonesia
September 23, 2005
From: Bob Widman
I found this nudibranch on a night dive. One of the dive masters said it was a 'Chromodoris reliable', but I can't seem to find anything that looks like this in a book or on the web. Can you identify it?
Locality: Wakatobi, Indonesia. Depth: 50 ft. Length: 1/4 inch.10 September 2005. Photographer: Bob Widman
Thanks,
Bob
bob@seashots.com
Widman, R., 2005 (Sep 23) Chromodoris fidelis from Indonesia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14824Dear Bob,
This is a nice example of one of the colour forms of Chromodoris fidelis.
In Neville Coleman's 1001 Nudibranchs he made up 'common names' by trying to translate the scientific name into English so Chromodoris fidelis became "Reliable Chromodoris". This is as good an example as any of the silly practice of making up common names. Is this Chromodoris any more faithful or reliable than any other? .. and has this name any meaning for the majority of the world's population that don't speak English? Although most authors give a explanation these days when they make up a new scientific name, this was not the case a 100 years ago. However Kelaart, who named this species fidelis, usually gave obvious clues to why he gave species particular names. For example in the same paper he described Doris fidelis he writes 'This leopard-spotted Doris" in his description of Doris leoparda; ".. large marbled Doris..." for Doris marmorata; "This .... Doris resembles a piece of bone" from Doris osseosa, so his reasons are usually clear.
However for Doris fidelis I can find no clues. He says it " ... looks .. like a large bean. ....... It is very tenacious of life." Neither attributes seem to lead to 'fidelis' which means 'faithful' or 'reliable', but I must admit my Latin knowledge is very slight. I seem to have gone on at some length here. Suffice to say that if everyone had been 'faithful' to the scientific name then you wouldn't have needed to do a fruitless search for 'Chromodoris faithful'.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
Chromodoris fidelis from Sri Lanka
From: Anouk Houben, December 10, 2007 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Thailand
From: Paul Osmond, March 24, 2007 -
A colour variant of Chromodoris fidelis ?
From: Takao Urasawa, August 3, 2006 -
Chromodoris fidelis from the northern Marianas Ids
From: Takao Urasawa, November 12, 2005 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Burma
From: Sergey Parinov, July 6, 2005 -
Feeding Chromodoris fidelis from Burma
From: Sergey Parinov, July 6, 2005 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Nth Borneo
From: Glenn Robert, March 18, 2004 -
Chromodoris fidelis feeding [1]
From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004 -
Chromodoris fidelis feeding [4]
From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004 -
Chromodoris fidelis feeding [2]
From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004 -
Chromodoris fidelis feeding [3]
From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004 -
Chromodoris fidelis feeding [5]
From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004 -
Chromodoris fidelis feeding [6]
From: Scott Johnson, February 16, 2004 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Thailand
From: Danny Van Belle, February 14, 2004 -
Chromodoris fidelis - feeding
From: Kheong San Chan, April 10, 2003 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Sulawesi
From: Mary Jane Adams, May 8, 2002 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Indonesia
From: Alice Lee, March 28, 2002 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Bali
From: Stuart Hutchison, March 11, 2002 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Hong Kong
From: Bill Rudman & Brian Darvell, January 28, 2002 -
Re: Chromodoris fidelis from Tufi, Papua New Guinea
From: Des Paroz, October 15, 2001 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Tufi, Papua New Guinea
From: Des Paroz, October 14, 2001 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Papua New Guinea
From: Marli Wakeling, October 4, 2001 -
Another variant of Chromodoris fidelis
From: Stuart Hutchison, August 16, 2000 -
Chromodoris fidelis from Papua New Guinea
From: Stuart Hutchison, August 13, 2000 -
Chromodoris fidelis from South Africa
From: Valda Fraser, April 2, 2000