Bus Stop Goniobranchus

Goniobranchus hintuanensis -- Bus stop Chromodoris

This nudibranch patiently made its way toward me, gently waving its front margin, as I worked to focus the camera lens. I met with it at a dive site off Marikaban Island near Anilao.

According to slugsite.com, the marine biologists who originally described this nudibranch scientifically saw locals waiting in a wooden shed for the bus to Manila, when they surfaced with their first specimen. Tagalog has no word for bus stop, but "hintuan" means "stopping place"-- giving rise to the species name. They originally classified it in the large and colorful Chromodoris genus, but molecular studies have split that group; this one ended up in the "new" group, Goniobranchus. This name translates to "Angled-Gill" (of course, "nudibranch" translates to "naked gill").

Link: https://slugsite.us/bow/nudwk113.htm