Scientific Names

[Kovu]

I was just wondering in my Community Ecology class this, how important is knowing scientific names is it? Im in my third year of an Aquaculture program so I know a few but when I read research papers of let say trees I have no idea what tree there talking about with the scientific name. So I guess my question is how do you guys feel about scientific names versus common names.

 

[Oxylebius]

When communicating in a community that spans the globe (like this one), scientific names are super helpful to know exactly what someone is referring to. There are too many common names used in different countries to describe one single fish species. But, any name is a google search away for ID.

After awhile a scientific name is like any other name, you can get used to it and refer to the species by it.

What can make scientific names difficult is that they are Latin.