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What
does this name mean ?
Malawi
cichlids, as all fishes, apart from their commercial names (Electric blue
hap, Electric yellow labido etc.) are usually
referred to by their scientific names. This is the correct name to
refer to them simply because it is the only internationally accepted
name and there is no confusion about it. Each scientific name
corresponds to one very specific species which is understood by
everybody. Names like "African peacock" "Sunshine
peacock" or "pleco" mean almost nothing. There are
various species sold or referred to as African peacocks or plecos.
Furthermore, the use of exotic names as "Red shoulder
peacock" and the alike, only help the pet shop owner to sell
their fish.
Scientific
names have two parts : the
first, spelled with a capital, is the
name of the Genus and the second is the name of the species. The
genus and species of the fish are part of its taxonomy in the animal
kingdom and follow very strict rules. Hence in Melanochromis johanni, the genus is "Melanochromis" while the species
name is "johanni". It goes without saying that each genus
may include many different species whilst each species describes one
particular fish. Thus, there are many species in the Melanochromis
genus (parallelus, johanni, auratus, chipokae etc.). In rare cases
one genus contains only one species, such as the genus Cyrtocara
which only includes the species moorii. See also the article of
Francesco on "How Scientific
Names Work" for more details !
Scientific
names have either a Greek or Latin origin and may also contain
the name of the person who first discovered or described them (e.g.
axelroddi, brichardi, baenschi, stuartgranti etc.). Scientific names
mean almost nothing to most hobbyists who have to rely on the
"common" or "commercial" name, since this is the
only term that "describes" the fish. Nothing is further
from truth then this concept. Scientific names describe fish in a
far more accurate way, only we can't understand it. In this short
Article, I will give you the meaning of the Greek part of Scientific
names in order to understand how well these names describe the fish.
Next to the explanation I will give you some examples of the
description, which rises from the combination of these words and
then the commercial or common name. Some non-African examples are:
-
Choirorrynchus
acanthopsis Choiros
(pig)+ Rynchus (snout), Acantha (sting) + Opsis (view; eye) -
Meaning : Fish with a snout reminding of a pig and a sting next
to the eye. Common name : Horseface loach.
-
Pterygoplichthys
Pteryga (fin or wing) + Ichthys (fish)
-
Synodontis
Syn (plus, combined) + Dontis (having teeth)
It should be
noted that sometimes the original meaning of the word used is
forgotten and the word is used as it stands today. An example is the
word "electra", which originates from the Ancient Greek
word "electron". Electron actually means "amber"
(the substance) while it is now used to imply the presence of an
"electric" color. So, in some cases, the meaning of the
ancient Greek word is not enough to describe the genus. Furthermore,
sometimes the spelling of the word is simplified to fit non Greek
speaking people so it becomes more difficult, even for Greeks, to
find the correct theme of the word. As an example, the word
"lips" in Greek is "Cheilos" and it should be
spelled like that. While this is so in many genera, in some species
(as in Chilotilapia euchilus) it is spelled differently. This is the
cause of too much confusion because the word theme
"chilo-" has another meaning in Greek.
This
article could have not been finished without the generous help
of Dr. Michael K. Oliver
to whom many thanks. In his site you can find every information you
will ever need about the taxonomy of Lake Malawi cichlids.
You
can see the next pages for the Non-mbuna
and the Mbuna
taxonomy. |
