Coral Slang Names... Detrimental to the Hobby?

[Charlie97L]

ok, i have a poll worthy issue... does anyone know where/why these slang names for coral started? now, i totally realize that some of them are established names, probably from coral aquaculturing greats like Bourneman, etc. PPE's, dragon eye zoas, etc. but then when you see these ridiculously long names, that are made up for (seemingly) marketing purposes, and maybe simply sounding less geeky than spouting latin animal names... what's that about?

what i've seen, it's mostly SPS/acros and zoas... but it's slowly filtering down to LPS and softies. i don't like it because it makes it hard to tell what coral someone's talking about sometimes.

it gets on my nerves slightly, does anyone else feel the same way? honestly, i don't see many people on here using them, which is great, it's more prevalent on other sites. plus, i love it when, only seen this a few times, someone will post 3 pics of the same coral, with 3 different names, and sell it for 3 different prices.

examples i've seen in the past few months... pink lemonade acro, raspberry sherbet millipora, and UNC sky-baby blue acro with vanilla cream tips and strawberry shortcake polyps. ok, maybe i made that last one up, but that's where this is heading.

my poll is this, do you think this trend is good for the hobby? i feel it's detracting from the fact that these are creatures, not like, baubles you can just go to walmart and replace. i'm all for having a colorful tank, but it just seems, well, that its pushing the coral industry in a direction where they are trying to attract beginners to harder, more expensive coral, just for braggins rights... which don't think is a productive direction for the hobby to take... this isn't an unlimited resource, you know? i'm also seeing many online vendors start to follow this trend as well, not just individual culturers.

poll away, but share your thoughts as well.

edit: i re-read this, and thought it came off rather aggressive/bitter. i'm not, i'm just bored at work, and got thinking about this... haha. i don't like it, but (for now) i don't think it's doing too much one way or the other... i just thought it would be a good discussion point. :0)

[Witfull]

excellent poll Charlie. personally, i think its getting out of hand. it started with the Purple Monster, the Oregon Tort, and Tyree limited editions. it then began escalating, other fraggers wanted fancy names, then the online retailers wanted in on the action and began creative adjective combinations.

basically it comes down to one word-"Morph" thats what all the colors are.

[Charlie97L]

thanks wit, i'm glad it's not just me! *whew*

i was feeling a little spacey there for a minute.

[Cougra]

I hate all the fancy names that corals get as well. It's just an excuse to charge extra money for the animal and the saddest part is that people actually do fall for these gimicky names!

[boozeman]

they should name them all after brands of booze :

[reefjitsu]

I don't see it as any different that what flower people have done, just naming different varieties.

[billyr98]

i hate the crazy Purple Monster names and the zoas color names...
Crazy name = High Money.. That makes no sense...

[Witfull]

doesnt make cents,,, makes dollars~

[mps9506]

I personally have no issues with the slang names from a hobbiest percpective. The only reason I say that is because I don't believe most hobbiest can properly ID most corals down to a species level anyways. As long as you know the genera and proper conditions required for a coral that is what is important.

IMO the very reason behind giving "slang" names to corals like acros is simply because it is very difficult to id down to species level accurately and in addition to that we all know that SPS corals can exhibit various growth characteristics under different conditions.
I personally don't think people ever purchase a coral because of the name. They purchase it because they have seen photos of the parent colony and when they buy a frag of that colony they are hoping they will eventually have a coral that looks the same. The chances of them getting a wild colony that has the same coloration or growth pattern might be quite difficult, and in order for one to get that same coral as a wild colony one would surely need to have a good hook up in the LA warehouses.

JMO

[reefjitsu]

You could get rid of the names totally and it wouldn't change a thing. Even without the crazy names, rare and exceptional color varieties are going to sell for alot more than common varieties.

[Witfull]

this is true, but i have seen many times over where a common morph around for a long time and seen everywhere suddenly gets a new name name on a site. then go to another site and see an identical specimen and it has a different name. for example common brown skirt zoa's,,,suddenly turn into Rare-Hersey Chocolate Kiss Zoanithids.

[Charlie97L]

yay! discussion.

mps, i totally understand what you're saying about most people not being able to do the species names anyway, and yes, it does help with identification... and i'm not saying that people shouldn't charge more for the fantastic color morphs that are out there. that's totally legit.

i personally have seen people on other sites be taken for a lot of money on a common morph with a catchy name. for example, i saw, what i think are fairly common orangey brown zoas advertised as pumpkin pie zoas and sold (successfully) for 5.00 a polyp. normally a colony of ~30 goes for about 25 bucks.

another thing, it may give newbies a bad impression of the support of this hobby. if people buy a common zoa colony with a fancy name for 150 bucks as a new reefer, then proudly show it off to a more experienced one, who proclaims them a pest, and that they're taking over his tank, it gives the wrong impression about both the vendors and/or other hobbyists, who are basically swindling the new guy. i've been on that end of the stick, not with reefing, but it's not pleasant. thank goodness my older experiences taught me the value of research before i got into this hobby.

[iluvzigz]

yeah im pretty new to this hobby since march..and im not impressed with all the names ive been hearing...superman, incredible hulks,and some of the others that have been ridiculous ..

its not a good direction that names like that are headed in it ..just makes it commercialized and people start trying to collect them like trading cards..i dont like it..although on the other hand it can be easier to identify sometimes ...

but then again not really if everyone cant get the names straight and have different names for the same coral anyways ,so that makes it pointless

[mps9506]

Again JMO but if someone wants to pay $100 for some brown polyps, that is their choice. It's not like people are using the names to describe some unseen corals, they plaster the images, usually nice clean close up macros at that, along with the description size and price.
Also some vendors do go overboard on the naming of corals, but I can think of two places that do it simply for fun. They would still charge the same price for the corals with just a picture and price tag next to it.
I just really don't think it is the name that drives up the prices at all, I think it is demand...

[Cougra]

I think the demand comes because people give the corals the exotic names and they want the bragging rights for having the latest "fad" coral. I've seen this happen many times and I know one person who has two frags from the exact same colony claiming they have two different types because they baught one as a "Blue Diamond Staghorn" in one LFS and the other as a "Aquamarine Acropora" at a different LFS.

The problem with common names like this is that people don't do the research to find out what they really are. There is a misperception that its "easier" to use the "common" english names (Even though they really aren't common) then it is to try to remember the genus because the names don't sound like words we hear every day.