Dr. William B. Rudman, usually known as Bill Rudman (born 194?), from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, is a biologist

Biologist

A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...

, a researcher who studies molluscs, in other words, a malacologist. In particular he studies sea slug

Slug

Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...

s, opisthobranch gastropod molluscs, and has named many species of nudibranch

Nudibranch

A nudibranch is a member of what is now a taxonomic clade, and what was previously a suborder, of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms...

s.

He is perhaps most widely known for his website, the Sea Slug Forum, which is affiliated with the Australian Museum

Australian Museum

The Australian Museum is the oldest museum in Australia, with an international reputation in the fields of natural history and anthropology. It features collections of vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, as well as mineralogy, palaeontology, and anthropology...

. The Sea Slug Forum is a voluminous resource, which in Rudman's words: "aims to generate more interest in these fascinating animals by sharing information with a worldwide audience.". Sea Slug Forum has information and numerous images of nudibranchs, bubble-snails, sea hares and other kinds of sea slugs.

Further reading

• Loch I. (1988). W. B. Rudman – Malacological bibliography and described Taxa. Sydney: Australian Museum, 8 pp.
• Miller A. (1998). "Shellebrities, W. B. Rudman, BSc. MSc. (Hons) PhD. DSc". Australian Shell News 101: 7. (with portrait).