I have noticed on the Tropical Fish Distributors web page that they are listing the 2 names as seperate species. One of the local fish stores that I have been harrassing to get poly's in said the same thing when I asked about some they were getting in. What could these places be using to try and differentiate between two of the same species? I understand that they are the same, in fact I even told the LFS that. But what COULD they be? Is this a common occurance? What is usually mislabeled?
Cuvier vs Senegal
- Thread starter jdryden
- Start date
Its Polypterus senegalus Cuvier named it after himself after he described it scientificly
So who was Cuvier?
Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier (August 23, 1769–May 13, 1832) was a French naturalist and zoologist.
Cuvier, after corresponding with the well-known naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, was appointed in 1795, at the age of 26, as assistant to the professor of comparative anatomy at the Muséum National.Cuvier's researches on fish, begun in 1801, finally culminated in the publication of the Histoire naturelle des poissons, which contained descriptions of 5000 species of fishes.
In 1794 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire entered into correspondence with Georges Cuvier. Shortly after the appointment of Cuvier as assistant at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Geoffroy received him into his house. The two friends wrote together five memoirs on natural history, one of which, on the classification of mammals, puts forward the idea of the subordination of characters upon which Cuvier based his zoological system.
Animals named after Cuvier
These include Cuvier's beaked whale, Cuvier's Gazelle, Cuvier's toucan, Cuvier's Bichir, and Galeocerdo cuvieri, the tiger shark. There are also some extinct animals named after Cuvier, such as the South American giant sloth Catonyx cuvieri.-Anne
So who was Cuvier?
Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier (August 23, 1769–May 13, 1832) was a French naturalist and zoologist.
Cuvier, after corresponding with the well-known naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, was appointed in 1795, at the age of 26, as assistant to the professor of comparative anatomy at the Muséum National.Cuvier's researches on fish, begun in 1801, finally culminated in the publication of the Histoire naturelle des poissons, which contained descriptions of 5000 species of fishes.
In 1794 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire entered into correspondence with Georges Cuvier. Shortly after the appointment of Cuvier as assistant at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Geoffroy received him into his house. The two friends wrote together five memoirs on natural history, one of which, on the classification of mammals, puts forward the idea of the subordination of characters upon which Cuvier based his zoological system.
Animals named after Cuvier
These include Cuvier's beaked whale, Cuvier's Gazelle, Cuvier's toucan, Cuvier's Bichir, and Galeocerdo cuvieri, the tiger shark. There are also some extinct animals named after Cuvier, such as the South American giant sloth Catonyx cuvieri.-Anne
just another reason why common names generally cause confusion, whereas there's really no question when going by scientific names...this is also exemplified by LFS calling many different bichirs "retropinnis" and "palmas" and just about any elongate fish with a long snout a "gar" --
--solomon
--solomon
I've tried everything when it comes to the LFS here. Seems most of them have no idea whether I ask about bichir, polypterus, or polypterus whatever. They all give me the blank "huh?" look for a while until I start trying to explain what they are/look like. That's why I'm curious to see what they think the difference between these two species really are.
jdryden;1244212; said:
There is no difference. They are synonymous. www.fishbase.org for more info is you so desire.
Druu;1244332; said:
Yes, I am very well aware of this. I was trying to figure out how a LFS is planning on differing between the two.
They will use whatever the invoice says(most common)irregardless of the actual species they get-Anne
True but most stores have no actual knowledge of Polypterid species hence P.p.pollis often mislabeled as P.retropinnis and my personal fav P. Bichir lapradei when I told them of the mistakes they said matter of factly "we go by whatever the invoice says"