There is a two-part latin name which for each individual species and only for that species. This is commonly called a species' scientific name. It avoids MANY problems with common names:
1. A common name is often used for multiple species. This is especially true when there are similar species in different locations. There is a Red Snapper in the Caribbean and a Red Snapper in the Pacific. They are NOT the same fish. There are many examples of this confusion.
2. Often, one species will have many common names. Have you heard of a mountain lion, puma, cougar or catamount? All the same animal. There are even more regional names for this same critter. Ever heard of a Humuhumunukunukuapua? It's what the Hawaiians call what most people call the Picasso Triggerfish.
Sorry Brian but if the guy you were talking about was talking about the fish most commonly known as Mahi Mahi, he is correct. That species has just as much a claim to the common name Dolphin (mostly used on the eastern seaboard of the US) as any member of the Delphinidae family which are of course, mammals. That's the whole point of scientific names: to avoid this kind of shit. One name for each species and only for that species.
I am personally familiar with the "Dolphin" thing as I used to live in Florida and worked in the recreational scuba business as well as an Everglades tour guide. MANY Floridians angrily insist that a dolphin is a fish (Mahi Mahi) and that the animal we call a dolphin is a porpoise. The latter is incorrect. A porpoise is a similar but different family of marine mammals.
There's no winning an argument of common species names because there are often no right answers or multiple right answers.
1. A common name is often used for multiple species. This is especially true when there are similar species in different locations. There is a Red Snapper in the Caribbean and a Red Snapper in the Pacific. They are NOT the same fish. There are many examples of this confusion.
2. Often, one species will have many common names. Have you heard of a mountain lion, puma, cougar or catamount? All the same animal. There are even more regional names for this same critter. Ever heard of a Humuhumunukunukuapua? It's what the Hawaiians call what most people call the Picasso Triggerfish.
Sorry Brian but if the guy you were talking about was talking about the fish most commonly known as Mahi Mahi, he is correct. That species has just as much a claim to the common name Dolphin (mostly used on the eastern seaboard of the US) as any member of the Delphinidae family which are of course, mammals. That's the whole point of scientific names: to avoid this kind of shit. One name for each species and only for that species.
I am personally familiar with the "Dolphin" thing as I used to live in Florida and worked in the recreational scuba business as well as an Everglades tour guide. MANY Floridians angrily insist that a dolphin is a fish (Mahi Mahi) and that the animal we call a dolphin is a porpoise. The latter is incorrect. A porpoise is a similar but different family of marine mammals.
There's no winning an argument of common species names because there are often no right answers or multiple right answers.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
