Blobfish, Old Wife and Slippery Dick: What’s in a Name?
The Redmap Team, 13 Oct 2014.
We’d like to think scientists take the naming of marine species quite seriously, but…this is not always the case. Here are some of the more amusing (and sometimes outrageous) names given to sea life.
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The Blobfish appears true to its name and has its own Facebook page. Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/48988481@N00/3219837080/ (creative commons 2.0)
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This Old Wife was spotted in Tasmania and shared by Emma Flukes. The fish gets its name from grinding its teeth when caught.
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A Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is also known as a ‘hoe mother’. We are not sure why! This was a rare sighting in Western Port Bay, Melbourne, by Bob Tracey.
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It's obvious why Cleidopus gloriamaris is called a 'Pinapplefish'. This photo was taken at Tomaree Head, NSW (Credit: Rick Stuart-Smith, Reef Life Survey).
Nomenclature! It’s the naming of living things – such as when a new species is discovered and needs to be classified. And a chance for some scientists to vent their pent-up humour…
Did you know?
• The blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) inhabits deep waters in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This fish is rarely seen by humans as it lives at depths between 100m and 1600m, but it does have its own Facebook page: www.facebook.com/mrblobby.blobfish
• The common name for Enoplosus armatus is ‘old wife’, referring to the sound made when this fish is caught on hook and line. The fish grinds its teeth together, allegedly producing the sound of an 'old wife'. Hmmm...
• It’s not often you get away with saying ‘hoe, mother’, but recently a Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) – also known as a ‘hoe mother’ – was logged on Redmap in Victoria. The filter feeder with the dubious nickname is the world’s largest fish, after the whale shark, and is usually found in warm-temperate waters. It's not often observed in Victorian seas.
• A group of jelly fish is called a smack, a group of barracuda is called a battery, and a group of stingrays is called a fever.
These fish names also made our weird list:
• Happy moments (Siganus nebulosus)
• Earmuff wrasse (Halichoeres melasmapomus)
• California smoothtongue (Leuroglossus stilbius)
• Jellynose fish (Order Ateleopodiformes)
• Monkeyface Prickleback (Cebidichthys violaceus)
• Moustache triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens)
• Noodlefish (family Salangidae)
• Peters' elephantnose fish (Gnathonemus petersii)
• Pineapplefish (Cleidopus gloriamaris)
• Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus)
• Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)
• Slippery dick (Halichoeres bivittatus)
• Silver dollar (family Characidae)
• Slickheads or nakedheads (family Alepocephalidae)
• Slimeheads (family Trachichthyidae)
• Upsidedown catfish (Synodontis nigriventris)
And perhaps a few drinks were involved during the naming of these marine invertebrates:
• Abra cadabra (fossilised seashell)
• Yeti crab (Kiwa hirsuta)
• Dumbo octopus (Genus Grimpoteuthis)
It appears some terrestrial biologists couldn’t help themselves either:
• Agra vation (a beetle)
• Pieza kake (a fly)
• Apopyllus now (a spider)
• Aha ha (a wasp)
• GoldenPalace.com Monkey (Callicebus aureipalatii)
