Thanks for the explanation Harry – of course if non-collectors need to know how to refer to these
shells it is important to have a work done to make names standard.

But I still can't imagine someone using them to refer to a deep water shell coming from the Marianas
Trench... See my point? It is ok to use Volute, Olive, Cowrie in a conversation, but to use it on a
scientific paper it does sounds strange.

Of course to beginners it might sound easier to refer to shells using common names. But the logical
next step collecting them is to use scientific names. I can't imagine a large collection labeled
only with common names. This is why I asked if any collector uses them only. Anyone? Please note I
am not diminishing  the value of such collections or trying to make collecting something too
complicated to those who started it using vernacular names.

Marcus



Dear Marcus,

On September 30, 1981 the American Fisheries Society (AFS) established a Committee on Names of
Aquatic Invertebrates with the expressed purpose of creating a standardized list of such animals so
as to "achieve uniformity and avoid confusion in the nomenclature."

There was dialogue with the American Malacological Union, which in April, 1983 transferred
responsibility for creating such a list of North American (north of Mexico; the US and Canada)
mollusks to its subsidiary, the Council of Systematic Malacologists. The Council in turn created the
Committee on Scientific and Vernacular Names of Mollusks, which has published two editions (1988 and
1998) of Common and Scientific names of aquatic invertebrates form the United States and Canada
under the auspices of the AFS.

The underlying philosophy of the publication of vernacular names is to make them unambiguous and
available to people who interact with mollusks in fisheries, conservation, recreation, etc. much in
the same way that many of us have come to know the Golden Eagle and the Eastern Diamondback
Rattlesnake with relative precision but without being able to quote their scientific names.

Many species had to have vernacular names created from scratch, but some, such as many of the naiads
had names that had been in use for over a century and had entered the American culture (Mucket,
Pigtoe, Threeridge, Heelsplitter, Hickory nut, etc.). Many of the marine species had been given
common names by Dr. Abbott in his published works, but a large number of them were changed to better
express the natural attributes of the animal or its shell without intimately tying it to its
scientific name.




--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.4/476 - Release Date: 14/10/2006

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------