Common names for all species and subspecies of the genus Anguilla

Katsumi Tsukamoto,Mari Kuroki,Shun Watanabe

doi:10.1007/s10641-020-00988-3

Katsumi Tsukamoto, Mari Kuroki + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-020-00988-3

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Abstract

Scientific naming rules of animals are strictly defined by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, while those for common names are vague and not well defined. Specifically, the common names of freshwater eels of the genus Anguilla have become confused among scientific papers, pictorial books, and online resources in recent years. This disordered use of common names among freshwater eels demonstrates the urgent need for the standardization of common names for these species. In addition, freshwater eel populations have drastically decreased worldwide over the past few decades, resulting in their listing as endangered species. In the present study, we defined the following five rules for the common names of freshwater eels: to (1) use a representative locality name of the geographic distribution of the species or subspecies, (2) distinguish two sympatric species or subspecies as longfin or shortfin, (3) select a name that would enable the scientific name to be easily recalled, (4) value longstanding former common names if they adhere to the above three rules, and (5) use the shortest name possible. Based on current scientific knowledge and on these rules, we proposed 22 common names for all known 19 species and subspecies of the genus. As a result, 21, 6, 13, and 3 species and subspecies were named based on Rules (1), (2), (3), and (4), respectively.

Highlights

Scientific names of animals are strictly defined by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature stipulated by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
The majority of common names used are spontaneously decided on in many cases, there can be confusion when a species has two or more different common names or if a single common name is used for multiple species, e.g., among the common names of anguillid eels
Based on the application of the five rules, we proposed 22 common names for the 19 species and subspecies of anguillid eels (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Scientific names of animals are strictly defined by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature stipulated by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (https://www.iczn.org; Accessed 03 March 2020). Common names are not defined by any set of rules. Common names are considered to be effective when they are short and simple, and remembered, and organized systematically according to a certain rule. 19 species and subspecies of Anguillid eels are recognized worldwide (Ege 1939; Castle and Williamson 1974; Watanabe et al 2009a) (Fig. 1). These species and subspecies are all distinguishable by molecular characteristics (Watanabe et al 2005), there are still taxonomic issues regarding the subspecies (Dijkstra and Jellyman 1999; Watanabe et al 2006, 2008a, 2014b) and populations (Minegishi et al 2008; Watanabe et al 2008b)

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