Fish-Centric Zoological Nomenclature

[lfinley58]

A Fish-Centric Guide To Zoological Nomenclature by Christopher Scharpf. The ETYFish Project, March 26, 2022. 13 Pages.
There is no formal abstract for the paper, but the last paragraph of the introductory material below will serve that purpose.

"What follows is an introduction to zoological nomenclature illustrated with names from the world of fishes (but which apply to non-fish taxa as well). The first five sections explain how names are formed, how they are proposed or made “available,” why some names (synonyms) are set aside or not used at all, and why a name that’s in use today may be replaced by a different name tomorrow. This is by no means a comprehensive treatment of the subject — just the highlights. Since naming organisms is a strictly human activity combining objective science with subjective self-expression, the final sections survey the various types of names an ichthyologist can consider when describing a new taxon."

The paper is great reading, and yes, some catfishes are used as examples. The paper is open access at the link below.

https://etyfish.org/wp-content/uploads/ ... lature.pdf

[Jools]

This is a brilliant article and really easy to read. Enjoyed it, and the common-sense approaches it lays out. Thanks for posting Lee.

Cheers,

Jools