...and to make sure they keep their advantage, every few years all the nomenclaturists gather (somewhere nice, of course) and change a few of the names...
"When I were a lad", the bass was Morone labrax. Now, They who Know have decided it should be Dicentrarchus labrax.
This used to be because they'd found the species had been named twice, but the second chap had been more famous, or cited in more papers, or was at a posher ivory tower; however, as a group, they stick firmly to a law of priority, and eventually, the first chap would get his fifteen minutes of, well, obscurity.
Nowadays, DNA sequencing and other chemical techniques have moved at such a pace that "Molecular evolution" is throwing light on all sorts of unsuspected relationships; as it is very handy to have all the species in a genus carry the same generic name, a fair bit of re-branding has to be done.
Special interest groups like gardeners tend to be kept well-informed about such changes; there are powerful commercial interests that want them to find old and new favourites quickly and easily.
Anglers, however, seem happy to be treated like mushrooms - until they land a possible huge roach, rudd or crucian...
You'll have gathered that I like names; good ones describe things well, and give a bit of history, too.
There are booby traps, though; if you've just discovered the Warty-Faced, Stinking Dung-Worm, and therefore have the privilege of giving it a scientific name, there's a strong temptation to name it after the @@@@ with whom your girl ran off...
In the reverse mood, but even more confusing, are some dedications - there are (or were - they may have been tidied up by now) several genera of freshwater beasts - Nerocila and Cerolina are two I recall - which are anagrams of Caroline, the discoverer's daughter. Not very helpful!
Then there's the thorny matter of the naming of floats...
