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Sea FAQ Why do scientists classify fish?
Why do scientists classify fish?
Since
common or colloquial names of fish vary from place to place
(menhaden, for example, are known by at least three different
names, and striped bass are called "stripers"
in New England and "rockfish" in Chesapeake Bay),investigators
would have no way of differentiating among species without
a uniform naming system. The system used to name the 20,000
odd fishes known to science is called "the binomial system
of nomenclature." It usually consists of a scientific name
in two parts, the generic and specific names, or three parts
if subspecies have been described.
The
generic name generally applies to several species showing
basic characteristics while a specific (species) name is based
on a few characteristics applying to one species, separate
and distinct from all others. (Example: The generic name Morone
applies to white perch, white bass, and
striped bass; the species names for those three fishes
are Morone americanus, M. chrysops, and M. saxatilis.)
The
words of the names are latinized regardless of the language
or alphabet of the study and are frequently descriptive of
a significant feature of the organism.
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