wher to find meanings of scientific names ???

[Thomas Andersen]

hogaboomorus is named after the two brothers George and Peter Hogaboom, who collected the type material together with the autors Carr & Giovanoli

nematopus is referring to the long ventral fins of this species - "with threadlike feet" (I don´t know the correct English translation)

Thomas

[seveland]

thank you! I've aded tos to the list above

[chc]

Very nice compilation there!

[Grange]

managuensis - after Rio Managua which is in Honduras
motaguensis - After Lake Motagua in Nicaragua

Lake Managua
Rio Motagua

Thorichthys - Greek, thoros, ou = semen, ichthys = fish (semen fish allrighty then)

According Juan Miguel's article the meaning of the word Thorichthys is defined by Meek as a leaping fish.

[seveland]

managuensis - after Rio Managua which is in Honduras
motaguensis - After Lake Motagua in Nicaragua

Lake Managua
Rio Motagua

Thorichthys - Greek, thoros, ou = semen, ichthys = fish (semen fish allrighty then)

According Juan Miguel's article the meaning of the word Thorichthys is defined by Meek as a leaping fish.

good catch on the lake/river mixup

I also found this:

Thorichthys from Greek: thor = dragging, ichthys = fish, the name was given by Meek to express jumping fish

so seems you're correct, i'm going to change it.

[The Kapenta Kid]

Another good argument for teaching Classics at junior or high school. Or maybe just English (fill in your own language) and its etymological structure. But that's a forlorn hope I'm sure.

[PecesCriollos]

hi all,

I actually do have a german book that is about exactly this subject:
The names of aquarium fish.
It is some 15 years old and newer names might be missing if they have not been used before.
If there is any name I should check just tell me
Please dont send the list of all american cichlids - that would be to hard (and might be reason for divorce)

best regards from Germany
Stefan

[Grange]

Please dont send the list of all american cichlids - that would be to hard (and might be reason for divorce)

rivulatus (Aequidens rivulatus) meens "like a brook" (operculum pattern) or "from a brook" ?

[PecesCriollos]

more probably rivulatus means "like a brook" in the sence of
"with a drawing in form of waves"
taken from
Schmettkamp, W. (1985):
Die Namen unserer Aquarienfische.
208 p., Landbuch Verlag, Germany

[Grange]

Thanks.

And such names:
C. amarum
H. appendiculatus
C. cienagae
C. ericymba
C. kraussii
B. mariae
B. megalospilus
B. syspilus
C. stenozonum
H. temporalis .......... .

[Nothonotus]

One book that is useful to have around is:

Borror, D.J. 1960. Dictionary of word roots and combining forms. Mayfield Publishing Company. Mountain View, CA. 134pp.

It usually has enough information to determine the etymology, but it is by no means complete. It is always wise to check into the context that a name was given.

For instance, if I were to use only the above book to determine my screen name (Nothonotus; a genus of darters) I would get 'bastard back'-- noth-o (Greek) spurious, illegitamate, some authors traslate it as bastard; and not- (Latin) back. This has actually and suprisingly been used in Fishes of Alabama, 2005. A bit more digging and one comes up with 'high back' using two latin roots. This makes more sense intuitively and especially when one considers that another name, Catonotus, was used for the first time by Agassiz in the same paper as Nothonotus and it means 'low back'. This also follows their relative morphologies. So... sorry for using non-cichlids as an example, but it illustrates that context can have a bearing on which roots are appropriate when a clear etymology is not given by a describing author.