Aquatic scientific names in the news …

An Ocean sunfish was found on New Year’s Day 2016 washed up on Whitstable beach (Canterbury Times 4th Jan). A subtropical species with a global distribution, they are by no means rare in British waters but are most often encountered around the southern and western coasts of the British Isles during the summer months.

Photo Gunther Clasen

At a reported length of 80cm it would seem to be a young specimen given that the average size of an adult Mola mola is 1.8 m from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail fin. Famously the heaviest of all the bony fishes with an average weight of around 1 tonne and a maximum recorded weight of around 2.3 tonnes.

Mola mola (Linnaeus, 1758), the Ocean sunfish

Etymology.

Mola – Latin, mill, millstone; grinders, molar-teeth. Alluding to the fact that the fish is similar in shape to a millstone (G. Rondelet De Piscibus Marinis1554).

This scientific name is an example of a tautonym, that is where both the genus and species name are the same; permissible for zoological nomenclature but not allowable under the rules governing botanical names. The reason for this double naming is not clear, in keeping with the etymology of the word mola it may be a reference to its thick rough skin or possibly to its dentition with its teeth fused to form a parrot-like beak.

A giant squid surfaced in Toyama Bay harbour (300km west of Tokyo) on Christmas eve, 2015. A species that is rarely observed at the surface, this animal was a juvenile of around three and half metres in length, most likely in poor health and unlikely to survive.

Video by Takayoshi Kojima

The giant squid is the second-largest mollusc only exceeded in size by the colossal squid. Poorly documented in comparison to their smaller relatives they are are a widespread species, although rare in tropical and polar latitudes, with a vertical distribution of perhaps between 300 – 1000m, largely based on data from trawled specimens and sperm whale diving behaviour.

Known since ancient times (mentioned by Aristotle) mainly from mariner’s tales and the occasional beachings it wasn’t until 2004 that a well preserved specimen was available for study and, around the same time, the first images of live specimens were captured.

It has been suggested that there may be as many as eight species of giant squid but based on the latest DNA evidence it seems likely that there is only a single species –
Architeuthis dux Steenstrup, 1857.

Etymology.

Architeuthis – Greek, Archi-, arxi- (αρχι), chief, principal, first in authority or order (post-classical); -teuthis (τευθις), squid, cuttlefish. Loosely speaking – first squid over all other squid.
dux – Latin, commander, ruler, leader, chief, head.

AQUATICAL•LATIN

Aquatic scientific names in the news …

Ocean sunfish

Giant squid