Understanding Scientific Names

[stanleo]

OK I have definately come to the realization that common names are useless in this hobby. I am trying to understand corals and trying to do my research on them so I can successfully keep a thriving reef tank. But everything I am reading has the Latin names and I am getting so lost. Is there a trick to understanding it all? I had enough trouble learning German!

 

[DerpPH]

The strategy is to remember the genus first. It is the first name and has a capital letter in the beginning. Then the exact species. For example. Tetraodon nigropunctatus. Tetraodon is the genus and nigropunctatus was te species

 

[Donya]

I am trying to understand corals and trying to do my research on them so I can successfully keep a thriving reef tank. But everything I am reading has the Latin names and I am getting so lost.

 
Oh dear...you turn to the dark side of Latin names, and then...corals LOL. While I can't emphasize enough how important proper IDing is for most animals in the marine hobby, corals can be pretty bad for utility and accuracy of the scientific names. For many corals in the hobby, the genus is really all that you can trust, if even that much, when trying to ID something. For example, some of the "tree corals" and other softies are supposedly only identifiable (even between genera in some cases) with a tissue sample under a microscope, so a hobbyist is totally out of luck with those trying to ID them in a frag tank with the naked eye. Some corals are better than others in that regard, but generally it is not an easy side of the hobby. So, don't feel bad about being confused! 
 
 
 

Is there a trick to understanding it all?
 

 
I'm not sure what you mean by this. What specifically are you struggling with?