Do coral have names?

[Lewis1]

Hello now I know there are different types of Coral like the species but do they have real names like different colors have universal names? If any of that makes sense and if so where can I find this information.

 

[homer1475]

Scientific Latin names, sure they all have them.

If you mean all those crazy names, those are usually named by the vendor selling them. The same coral can have 5 different names depending on which vendor you visit.

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Not really, just the fish.

 

[samnaz]

They all have scientific names. Some have common names, some have too many common names if you ask me. Example, is Euphyllia glabrescens the Torch coral but it has countless common names depending on the vendor, mainly based on the coloring but also could be based on the location it is found.

 

[samnaz]

If it’s the scientific names you’re interested in, I recommend the book Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry and Natural History by Eric Borneman. It was very helpful for me when starting out and learning coral names.

 

[Hans-Werner]

;Bookworm Every species has a name consisting of two parts. The first part is the genus, the second part is the species. The latin and/or greek name has a meaning which could be translated, for example the name "Acropora humilis" consists of the prefix "acro" meaning "tip end", "porus" which means "opening", the ending "a" is the female ending and "humilis" means "low". So Acropora humilis could be translated as the "low growing (coral) with opening/pore at the tip end" which describes it quite well. The related genus Montipora has no opening at the tip ends while Acropora has a so called "axial corallite" with axial polyp at each tip. ;Muted;Penguin