A great number of fish have common names like Blue Gourami for Trichogaster trichopterus or Black molly for Poecilia mexicana. Generally these are invented by the Aquatic industry and are very often a good and clear identity of the fish in question. But some times these can be totally misleading as to the true identity, a name on a tank like Blue Cichlid, because the dealer thinks they are Cichlids, and can see they are Blue but has no idea what fish it really is, can never be very helpful to the fish keeper, who would like to buy them, but can never be sure what size they attain, or what water they prefer etc. Moreover some species are very similar to another in markings, and coloration, and without the correct ID, both could be called Blue Cichlids, but one may grow to three times the size of the other.
We all know that the Scientific names can frighten fishkeepers new to the hobby, and some not so new as well, we have all preferred not to use them at some time, because we were not sure of the correct pronunciation, and to avoid embarrassment used the common name. The fact remains that the true name is the scientific name be it Greek, Latin or Double Dutch, it's the name attached to that species when first discovered. You should not be afraid to use them, because only by using them will you become familiar with them. Also a great many fish do not have a common name.
When one learns a little about them it becomes clearer that the name can be descriptive i.e. multifasciatus meaning multi (many) fasciatus (striped, barred or lined) manystriped, trifasciatus meaning three barred or striped.
I am going to try to explain a little about the scientific names in the hope it will make things a little clearer and give everyone the confidence to use them.( I am far from being an expert, but am passing on what I have acquired during my many years in the hobby)
One of the first things to understand is that the genus i.e. Barbus, Nannostomus etc. always begins with a capital letter. (Except when I type it.)
The species never begins with a capital. A basic rule is to pronounce everything as it is written, stressing the penultimate syllable, i.e.
Anomalochromis is pronounced An-oma-low-KROME-is,
Geophagus is pronounced Geo-FAGE-us .
There are exceptions because some have silent letters as in Ctenopoma the "C "is silent and so becomes ten-oh - POH-mah, and Pterophyllum becomes terro-FILL- um.
| ch | is pronounced as a hard "K" sound as in car | |
| a | is pronounced long as in bar | |
| ph | is pronounced "F" | |
| ae | is pronounced ee as in feet | |
| ei | is pronounced "I" as in fight | |
| I | is pronounced short as in pin | |
| au | is pronounced ow as in cow | |
Names of species ending in "i "or "ii "indicates the species is dedicated to a person by name,
names ending in 'ae' or 'iella' indicates a ladies name.
Names ending in 'ensis' signifies a geographical location, i.e. kribensis from river Krib.
A |
||
| Acicularis | pointed or needle like | |
| Acuti | pointed | |
| Aequi | equal /even | |
| Alba/Albo | white | |
| Alta | High | |
| Ambly | weak | |
| Amphi | both sides | |
| Andro | male | |
| Aneus | Bronze | |
| Aphi | small | |
B |
||
| Barb | beard | |
| B | two | |
| Brevis | short | |
C |
||
| Cara | Head | |
| Cardinalis | Scarlet red | |
| Caudo | Tail | |
| Chilo | lip | |
| Chroma | colour | |
| Chromis | brightly coloured | |
| Cichlasoma | perch shaped | |
| Ciliata | fringed | |
| Citrinellum | lemon | |
| Cteno | comb | |
D |
||
| Deca | ten | |
| Di /Duo | two | |
| Dolicho | long | |
| Dorsi/ Dorso | back | |
E |
||
| Ella | tiny | |
| Elongata | elongated | |
| Ennea | nine | |
| Erythro | red |
I hope you all find this of interest,
Peter