Taxonomy of Finfish (1+2)

1.2.5 Binominal nomenclature

Like all other animals, the binomenclature system standardized by Linnaeus is followed in scientific naming of finfishes. The binomen i.e. the scientific designation of the species consisting of a generic and species name e.g. Thryssa malabarica. Thryssa is a genus name and malabarica is species name. The genus name should start with capital letter and the species name should be in small letter. Since the scientific names of the species are italized, the genus and species name have to be underlined separately. When a subgenus is used in combination with generic and species name in classifying a species taxon, the subgenus should be placed in parenthesis between genus and species. It should not be counted as one of the words in the binominal name of species or trinominal name of a subspecies. E.g. Osteochilius (Osteochilichthys) nashii (Day). If a subspecies is to be named, trinominal system has to be followed e.g. Cirrhinus mrigala mrigala (Hamilton and Buchanan).

The generic group name must be in a noun in the nominative singular or be treated as such. The species group must be a simple word of more than one letter, or a compound word and must be or treated as (i) an adjective in a nominative singular agreeing in gender with a generic with a generic name (e.g. Gasterosteus aculeatus); (ii) a noun in the nominative singular standing in opposition to the generic name (e.g. Cichlasoma maculicauda); (iii) a noun in the genitive singular such occurs in patronymic (e.g. Trachinotus russelli, Epinephalus clarki, Mipterus peronii - Single ‘i’ relates to male while double ‘ii’ relates to female), (iv) an adjective used as a substantive in the genitive case, derived from the species name of an organism with which the animal in question is associated, (v) name in genitive plural usually indicating something about the habitat (e.g. Alepes djedaba, Solenostomus tuticorensis) and character of the species (e.g. Eleutheronema tetradactylum, Nibea macultata). A species group name can also be published in combination with genus group name but the latter need not be valid or even available (e.g. Atropus atropus).

In naming a finfish family, a valid genus contained in the family should be given and must be in the nominative plural e.g. Ariidae - genus Arius.