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/14824

Dear 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

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Sep 23). Comment on Chromodoris fidelis from Indonesia by Bob Widman. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/14824

Factsheet

Chromodoris fidelis

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