It’s human nature to name things. It’s part of how we label and describe items, communicate, and even differentiate one another. But nomenclature stretches to living things too, like plants, animals, and fish, and we want to know if it’s okay to label any animal with someone’s (a human’s,) name.
Since the time of the great explorers, animals have long been named in honor of the person who discovered them, like David Livingstone, or Charles Darwin, for example. To wealthy Western explorers, virtually everything in far-off countries was new, exciting, and there for the taking. But they all needed cataloging, with scientists giving new flora and fauna binomial (two-part) scientific names once back in scientific institutions.
Binomial names often combine Latin, Greek, and English language to describe the physical attributes of an animal new to science, like its curved beak (rostratum,) its sky blue color, (cyanea,) or the locality it was found in, (atauroensis,) but often they were attributed to people too – a practice which is still used by some taxonomists to this day.
Many freshwater and marine fish are named in honor of people who either found them or worked on them, although note, that it is frowned upon for the scientist describing the animal to name it after oneself. Many of the most famous people in the fishkeeping hobby have fish named after them, immortalizing our fish heroes and the contribution they made to the hobby and the species. A quick glance through the Reef Builders Media Library reveals dozens of fish named after prominent people, and it must be a great honor to be given such an award.
- Russell’s Lionfish, Pterois russelli
- Bartlett’s Anthias, Pseudanthias bartlettorum
- Cooper’s Anthias, Pseudanthias cooperi
- Fridman’s Dottyback, Pseudochromis fridmani
- Allen’s Damselfish, Pomacentrus alleni
- Sankey’s Dottyback, Pseudochromis sankeyi
- Springer’s Dottyback, Pseudochromis springeri
- Falco’s Hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys falco
- Stark’s Damselfish, Chryspitera starkii
- Burgess’s Butterflyfish, Pomacentrus alleni
- Klein’s Butterflyfish, Chaetodon kleinii
- Merten’s Butterflyfish, Chaetodon metensii
- Tinker’s Butterflyfish, Chaetodon tinkeri
- Eibl’s Angelfish, Centropyge eibli
- Fisher’s Angelfish, Centropyge fisheri
- Herald’s Angelfish, Centropyge heraldi
- Potter’s Angelfish, Centropyge potteri
- Lamarck’s Angelfish, Genicanthus lamarck
- Watanabe’s Angelfish, Genicanthus watanabei
- Clark’s Clownfish, Amphiprion clarkii
- Talbot’s Damselfish, Chrysiptera talboti
- Carpenter’s Flasher Wrasse, Paracheilinus carpenteri
- Randall’s Goby, Amblyeleotris randalli
- Rainford’s Goby, Amblygobius rainfordi
- Scott’s Fairy Wrasse, Cirrhilabrus scottorum
But scientists like to prove they have a sense of humor too, by naming animals and plants after celebrities like Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brad Pitt. A species of horsefly is named Scaptia beyonceae. Conobregma bradpitti is a species of Parasitic Wasp…As well as naming animals after fictional characters like Gollum, Han Solo, Batman, and SpongeBob Squarepants…
The animals they’re named after? We’re sure they don’t care as they are too preoccupied with finding food and mates and avoiding predators, and for many, we have doomed them to much worse fates than a mere name. But we want to know your thoughts on whether attribution should stick to Latinized descriptions of physical features that help us to identify an animal (“zebrinus” is a good indicator of anything with vertical stripes, for example) or if it’s okay to label animals with human names, like Thomson’s Gazelle, or even cartoon characters like SpongeBob? A brown, eyeless beetle from Slovenia was named Anophthalmus hitleri in 1936 in honor of Adolf Hitler! And that name remains with it to this day.
Or if they are given human name or place attribution, should they honor local, indigenous peoples with their names, their ancestral locations, and their native tongue? So many species honor white, western men.
The question:
Is it okay to name living creatures after people, honoring and immortalizing our hobby’s heroes? Or should we leave ourselves (our surnames, and our anthropomorphism,) out?
Have your say:
We welcome your thoughts and comments, so join the debate and have your say over on our Facebook Page.
