Pronouncing fish names

[green_fox]

mbuna

boo-na the M is silent or so i have read

 

[loach43]

mbuna

boo-na the M is silent or so i have read

That's a very good one and I do confess to saying mmmmbuna until I heard someone say it with a silent m


another:

Pleco

some say PLEH-ko and some say PLEE-ko
I like the short e sound but both have been dubbed as "correct".

 

[Eoibio]

I used to think panaque was PAN A Q lol...Not PAN AK

 

[loach43]

that's not so bad, I used to say pan- AIK!

 

[Eoibio]

lol..I actually dont know how but I used to think polypterus was poly pet tree us LOL

Now I know its pol ip ter us

 

[LBathory]

i pronounce bichir bi-kir, however, I know the proper way is bi-sheer or something like that.

 

[Pharaoh]

Apparently pulcher is pronounced pul-kur or pul-ker

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

Apparently pulcher is pronounced pul-kur or pul-ker

my main problem pronouncing names like that i still pronounce it the same way as in 'child' or 'pitcher'

 

[Noto]

good thread! its embarrassing but I used to pronounce cichlid, kick-lid... granted, this was about a year before I got into the hobby..

This is actually the classically proper pronunciation ("cichlid" comes from the Greek word κιχλή, meaning "wrasse" and pronounced "kee-klay"). The English soft C pronunciation has become standard, though.

mbuna

boo-na the M is silent or so i have read

There are two different English conventions used for "mbuna" (silent M, "buna", and extra vowel, "um-buna"), adopted because properly pronouncing the initial Bantu consonant represented by MB is too difficult for non-Bantu speakers.

 

[Noto]

i have allways wondered about this one

Acestrorhynchus falcirostris-------------- i allways thought it was

Ace-stror-hine-chus fal-ciro-stris

But that is only a guess.

A Classical Roman would say: "Ah-kest-roe-rhin-kuss fall-ki-rost-riss"
Most English speaking scientists would say: "Ah-sess-troe-reenk-uss fal-si-ros-triss"