Common and Vender/Hobbyist Coral Names

gerajn01 · Apr 29, 2021

Okay peeps... Here we go... I know this is a long shot but I'm hopping for the best. My goal is to create a log of Commen vs. Vendor/Hobbyist Coral names for us novice reefers to refrance. I know I speak for many when I say THIS NAME GAME IS OUT OF CONTROL... But... I'm not here to speak to either side of that heated debate. I'm only trying to provide the Hobbyist with a few more rounds of ammo/education. That being said... There is NO SOURCE of tying corals characteristics to the names vendors are selling them as. I'm looking for anyone to provide me reliable (no necessarily concrete) information on WHAT makes "this" coral a "Exosphere Zoa"... And so on and so on. I know the list is daunting but we have to start somewhere so we have a chance in this battle. Feel free to respond, message me on R2R or hell... Even text me at 260.888.5282 and thanks so much in advance for considering. I've asked multiple vendors for assistance and it's like I'm asking for a secret family recipe. Nobody wants to help me out. Be the change

Happy Reefing!

rkpetersen · Apr 29, 2021

People have tried this, you can find remnants of previous efforts to do this.
IMO It's a fool's errand, because there is no consistency, there are no rules, every vendor does their own thing, ability to accurately identify corals by scientific name is often limited as well, and no way to be sure that the next coral presented with the same name is actually identical to previous corals with that name.
Basically, common names are just about selling, nothing more. They should be given little attention, and never trusted.

gerajn01 · Apr 29, 2021

rkpetersen said:
People have tried this, you can find remnants of previous efforts to do this.
IMO It's a fool's errand, because there is no consistency, there are no rules, every vendor does their own thing, ability to accurately identify corals by scientific name is often limited as well, and no way to be sure that the next coral presented with the same name is actually identical to previous corals with that name.
Basically, common names are just about selling, nothing more. They should be given little attention, and never trusted.

Thanks for that insight

truly I appreciate it. Never the less, I'm going to make a decent stab at it. Hoping to help even a little. Thanks for commenting