Naming corals - When has it gone too far?

[Rakie]

Hello,

As one who is in the medical field, names really really do help identify things. I will say it does help knowing the scientific name. However, as others have stated doing this for every type of coral is exhausting from a consumers point of view.

Actually @Sarah24! -- It's not exhausting, it's literally not possible in the case of SPS. marine biologists with a speciality in corals can't even properly ID all SPS. It requires looking at histological slides of the carbonate growth structure -- not it's outward appearance. There was an article on this awhile ago (I think it may have been here actually...) but it's straight up not even possible.

 

[squampton]

I am cheap, and the local stores don't stock a ton of corals and what they do stock, I am not willing to pay. I buy all my corals from hobbyists as its the most cost effective way, being in Canada we do have a few online sellers, but their prices are high, I don't like buying based on one photo that is possibly not even accurate, then paying 30-50 in shipping on top, so local hobbyists it is for my supply.

Most expensive one coral I have was $20, a torch of some sort, I buy solely on price, $30 is my limit... I will spend more on fish though, I like fish more...

I just say torch, mushroom whatever color it is, hammer coral, but could not tell you if they had names beyond the generic.

 

[DMG Reef]

Understood. Personally though -- I've seen this topic be dredged up since 2005-6

Yep, I have no doubt about that! There seems to be some very heart-felt opinions about this issue.

 

[Sarah24!]

Actually @Sarah24! -- It's not exhausting, it's literally not possible in the case of SPS. marine biologists with a speciality in corals can't even properly ID all SPS. It requires looking at histological slides of the carbonate growth structure -- not it's outward appearance. There was an article on this awhile ago (I think it may have been here actually...) but it's straight up not even possible.

Hello,


Actually I have my undergrad in micro biology and marine biology before I went on to medical school. In what I said it’s not impossible, it would be exhausting but we would only do it for scientific reasons in which I stated. Also in order to find all species which we have not yet we have to identify them and classify them into groups and subgroups. Well the more scientific names are kingdom, phylum, and class, plus there are extant subclasss and orders as well. There are estimated 5,000 different types of corals, but species wise we have not identified all of them yet. With reefs in such critical danger, those who preserve the reefs frag ones out in the protected zones to save the species. They then analyze it, so they don’t keep grabbing the same kind of species.

 

[Sk8erSpanky]

Didnt realize this was such an emotional subject for some. But none the less I appreciate everyones thoughts and convorsations!

 

[SPS Junky]

I tire of all the made up names and prefer and miss identification by genus and species. The silly names are just a big push to bring in the $. The science is gone and the knowledge level is disappearing before our eyes.

 

[ncaldwell]

I just made a large order from a site and every single dang acro had a name. Whether it was a random wild piece or 2 different ones that looked exactly the same and they forgot they already named one I'm not sure. I look for colors, and names for extra money are irrelevant. After they go in the tank the names are promptly forgotten. Except for a couple like my walt disney and 2 battlecorals they lose their names

 

[DMG Reef]

I tire of all the made up names and prefer and miss identification by genus and species. The silly names are just a big push to bring in the $. The science is gone and the knowledge level is disappearing before our eyes.

It's not that the science is gone, it's more like the science is far too broad to be applied. My acro in post #112 was sold by my LFS as an acropora sp. That's accurate, but doesn't really tell me much. The LFS owner doesn't have a degree in marine biology or he'd be doing something more lucrative, I'm sure. How is he supposed to sell that coral under genus, species, etc. if he doesn't know and has no way to find out. If you google acropora ID, it'll make your head spin. And when the spinning stops, you still usually don't know what acro you have (unless it's a tenuis or a stag).

It's unrealistic to expect hobby-level sellers to accurately ID their products using scientific names. Maybe in a perfect world....

 

[Jessesoto33]

Who cares, you know what’s worse than naming corals, people that get upset about it, I never understood why people would get upset because someone else is doing something, leave them alone already, if you don’t like it don’t buy it because I won’t buy cheap no name corals give me the high dollar sweet looking name brand!!! Hope this is over!

 

[Potatohead]

Couple observations after reading the thread:

- One guy is mad people buy a chalice and cut it up and make big profit. Ever buy pasta? Why is the bulk section like 25% price of the packaged section? Bulk chemicals from BRS? Tomato sauce? Drugs? (lol) I mean literally everything is cheaper when bought in higher quantities and/or less packaging.

- some people don’t get branding I guess. If you walk onto Joe’s car lot and could buy a no-name car, would you? Maybe you would, but a heck of a lot of people won’t. A Chevrolet or Audi or Honda badge on the car is just like putting WWC or JF in front of a coral.

- a lot of people catch flak for spending big money on new named corals. These people aren’t stupid, that coral is the chalice example above. If you can buy a homewrecker for $1000 and grow it decently you can make four, five, six times your money back. Of course you’ve got to do that before the people you sold to do the same. Then when the market is saturated you do it again with the next new thing.

 

[ZoWhat]

This is all not any different than food products on the grocery shelf.

National well known names like Kraft, Heinz, Coke, Pepsi, Campbell soups, HealthyChoice, Lays chips, Jif peanutbutter, on and on brand names command higher retail price bc people are buying a "brand name"...bc they are convinced its "better "

Buying generic brands in s lot of cases taste just as good as the National brands.

But! People dont like the stigma of buying a generic bc their brains tell them National brands are better.

So........
Generic NO NAME corals given the correct husbandry will turn out to be a FABULOUS colored coral.

I once bought a "class c" rose tip anemone at 1/3rd the price. After love and care for it..I turned it into a class-a anemone with stunning color

 

[Potatohead]

Now we have gone off the deep end. Nothing tastes as good as Jif. Nothing.

 

[Rispa]

I like that they are named. It might mean that some cost more because of branding, but it also means that if you see that amazeballs coral that you have to have at any cost, chances are you can find it if you can find the name. As opposed to looking for a random chalice with pink eyes, you can specify a mummy chalice. Or instead of that really cool striped one with lots of colors, you can say that Beetlejuice Convice Chalcie.

 

[Rispa]

Hello,


Actually I have my undergrad in micro biology and marine biology before I went on to medical school. In what I said it’s not impossible, it would be exhausting but we would only do it for scientific reasons in which I stated. Also in order to find all species which we have not yet we have to identify them and classify them into groups and subgroups. Well the more scientific names are kingdom, phylum, and class, plus there are extant subclasss and orders as well. There are estimated 5,000 different types of corals, but species wise we have not identified all of them yet. With reefs in such critical danger, those who preserve the reefs frag ones out in the protected zones to save the species. They then analyze it, so they don’t keep grabbing the same kind of species.

This would be prohibitively expensive. Already there isn't even money in checking if there are multiple species of bubble tip anemone (so far as I can find anyhow) and that involves just a few lineages that don't get along and might be different anemone types all together. I imagine when you get down to acros it's very hard to determine what's a sister coral and what truely is an unrelated coral. Again the sheer amount of time and resources in trying to determine this for all the major reefs in the world would be way too expensive. That being said with reef bleaching and such I wish it could be done, so we have a better idea of what corals need more work.

 

[BoomCorals]

I once bought a "class c" rose tip anemone at 1/3rd the price. After love and care for it..I turned it into a class-a anemone with stunning color

Class A and Class C is like putting Ultra in front of a coral. There is no centralized standard or certification that comes from, it’s totally made up. It’s akin to naming a coral.