Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott
July 20, 2019
I spent last week attending Hawaii’s annual conservation conference, where public and private organizations share information about preserving Hawaii’s plants and animals. In addition to making new contacts and learning new things, I enjoyed meeting some of my readers.
One such woman told me she liked my column on Plakobranchus ocellatus because she had done her graduate work on the species.
From the blank look on my face, the friendly researcher realized that I didn’t know which animal she was talking about. “The sap sucker,” she said.
Oh, right, those blue-spotted, green-backed sea slugs that reappeared recently on my reef (June 29). After I heard the common name, we two had a nice chat about the remarkable creatures.
A male Vibranium fairy wrasse, also called Cirrhilabrus wakanda because
scientists named it after the fictional country in Marvel Comics’ “Black Panther.”
LUIS ROCHA / CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
I’m a good example of the problem with scientific names. When I look up a subject for a column, I find the scientific name and then I know it. But only briefly. Latin names are so oddly spelled, and so unpronounceable, they quickly drift out of my brain.
Nor are they all Latin. After I wrote about taxonomy, the science of naming, in my June 22 column, I received a friendly email reminding me how knotty the subject is: “Your own example was Greek (Chaetodon),” reader John wrote. “Then there are mixtures (of Greek and Latin): Megaptera noveangliae (humpback whale) and Calonectris borealis (Cory’s shearwater). Always enjoy your columns!”
Another reader interested in scientific naming sent me a paper by an Australian Museum taxonomist regarding the decline in the field of taxonomy. In that writer’s opinion, the falling off is partly because taxonomists communicate only with each other.
“We need to target the general public and nontaxonomists to advance the importance of taxonomy,” she wrote, “and the consequences of not being able to correctly identify species.” The researcher recommended highlighting new species using social media, podcasts and popular science articles.
A team from Australia and California apparently agrees. After the researchers recently found a new fairy wrasse in deep waters off Zanzibar, the scientific journal ZooKeys published the discovery. The stunning 2- to 3-inch-long wrasse made headlines in newspapers and magazines around the world because the scientists named it after story points in Marvel Comics’ “Black Panther.”
The fish is officially called Cirrhilabrus wakanda, common name Vibranium fairy wrasse. (Cirrhilabrus is the genus of all fairy wrasses, at least 59 species.) The “Black Panther” character lives in the imaginary African kingdom of Wakanda and wears a suit of mythical metal called Vibranium.
Scientific naming in Latin and Greek began centuries ago when those were the languages of scholars. But if taxonomists want people to appreciate newly discovered organisms and join the fold, it makes sense to adapt the discipline to the modern world.
A fish named Wakanda is a memorable step in the evolution of naming.