Most Coral "Names" are Mean Nothing Guys... Beyond Scientific Name it's Purely Made Up for Marketing

[Tamberav]

Canis lupus familiaris..I'm just a heathen that says dog lol. The ultra this and that I agree with though.

This is my ultra aussie rainbow dragon psychedelic toxic shock dawg

 

[V A R I A N T]

This is my ultra aussie rainbow dragon psychedelic toxic shock dawg

Dang, that’s nice. And pic under 10k lighting? Amazing

 

[billyocean]

This is my ultra aussie rainbow dragon psychedelic toxic shock dawg

Made me actually LOL!

 

[ryshark]

I think one of the most important things not mentioned in this thread is lineage. Trade names can help track lineage. These corals have typically been aquacultured so they are more hardy, grow quicker and hold better color. I like all the names for this reason. I also have no problem with them being more expensive. There are plenty of options out there, that are cheaper.

What I don’t like is wild or freshly maricultured frags getting chopped up and named.

It also makes no sense to me if someone posts a pic asking for an ID looking for a trade name. IMO without lineage, it’s just a scientific name Coral or a variant of a trade named coral.

A JF Homewrecker is only a JF Homewrecker if the lineage can be traced back to JF.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I think one of the most important things not mentioned in this thread is lineage. Trade names can help track lineage. These corals have typically been aquacultured so they are more hardy, grow quicker and hold better color. I like all the names for this reason. I also have no problem with them being more expensive. There are plenty of options out there, that are cheaper.

What I don’t like is wild or freshly maricultured frags getting chopped up and named.

It also makes no sense to me if someone posts a pic asking for an ID looking for a trade name. IMO without lineage, it’s just a scientific name Coral or a variant of a trade named coral.

A JF Homewrecker is only a JF Homewrecker if the lineage can be traced back to JF.

Who's tracing the lineage though? And does it really matter if the lineage can be traced back to JF if the colors are identical (which no colors will be identical to the mother colony after a short time)?

 

[ryshark]

Who's tracing the lineage though? And does it really matter if the lineage can be traced back to JF if the colors are identical (which no colors will be identical to the mother colony after a short time)?

I’ve seen people show receipts before as proof of purchase. Otherwise it’s just a lot of trusting what people say.

It does matter to me if lineage can be traced back. I don’t want something fresh from the ocean being called by a known trade name with identical colors that will have less chance of holding the colors and more chance of dying or changing color.

I understand these corals all came from the ocean and there wasn’t just one unique colony harvested. This is what leads to multiple vendors having likely the same coral with different trade names. For example CC Pink Highlighter same as MCC Prom Queen. But both are considered aquacultured at this point.

 

[Troylee]

I’ve seen people show receipts before as proof of purchase. Otherwise it’s just a lot of trusting what people say.

It does matter to me if lineage can be traced back. I don’t want something fresh from the ocean being called by a known trade name with identical colors that will have less chance of holding the colors and more chance of dying or changing color.

I understand these corals all came from the ocean and there wasn’t just one unique colony harvested. This is what leads to multiple vendors having likely the same coral with different trade names. For example CC Pink Highlighter same as MCC Prom Queen. But both are considered aquacultured at this point.

You’d think with a hundreds of holy grail torches hitting the market every day the price would have dropped! Def not the case! Asd had the og holy grail now there’s thousands of them and it’s still $500 a head lol.. it’s gonna be hard to trace one back to asd.. there’s a few garage sellers in my area and they’re getting colonies of them and chopping them up daily with the name and the price of the og!

 

[His Coral Highness]

I like the funny names....

 

[ryshark]

You’d think with a hundreds of holy grail torches hitting the market every day the price would have dropped! Def not the case! Asd had the og holy grail now there’s thousands of them and it’s still $500 a head lol.. it’s gonna be hard to trace one back to asd.. there’s a few garage sellers in my area and they’re getting colonies of them and chopping them up daily with the name and the price of the og!

It’s unfortunate that is happening.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

You’d think with a hundreds of holy grail torches hitting the market every day the price would have dropped! Def not the case! Asd had the og holy grail now there’s thousands of them and it’s still $500 a head lol.. it’s gonna be hard to trace one back to asd.. there’s a few garage sellers in my area and they’re getting colonies of them and chopping them up daily with the name and the price of the og!

There's a weird correlation with Australian corals...maybe it's the same with certain others too...the more imported the higher the price rises...in other words the higher the supply, the higher the price. Idk if this has anything to do with demand or not. I imagine in some cases it does while in others not.

 

[Lavey29]

This is my ultra aussie rainbow dragon psychedelic toxic shock dawg

Very inclusive trendy, should fit right in no problems

 

[Troylee]

There's a weird correlation with Australian corals...maybe it's the same with certain others too...the more imported the higher the price rises...in other words the higher the supply, the higher the price. Idk if this has anything to do with demand or not. I imagine in some cases it does while in others not.

I get it! But a let’s say a Knicks or dragon soul from Aussie isn’t fetching any more than the indos.. just that grail!

 

[i cant think]

It’s one of my biggest pet peeves. I absolutely hate all the goofy names given to the corals in order to squeeze more money out of people. It drives me nuts.

It’s the same here!
My LFS doesn’t do the fancy naming and just sells them either by colour or species (sometimes both - like Rainbow Milles and Sunset Milles).

 

[Bucs20fan]

Look at this super awesome Triple-x dragonslayer pancake waffle glitter spicy sausage highlighter OG bounce limited edition holy grail Blasto. You can get it right now for a super 75% off clearance end of the year millennial special auction deal normally $1925.99, but now its $1899.99!! Act now and ill throw in a nuclear green metallic GSP for FREE!

-my post on a different thread, but definitely applies here.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Haha i think most people know it's just marketing

No - most folks are clueless and buy right in (pun, no pun, whatever).

It started with just a few - with Tyree and Fox (sorry guys, you know it's true) leading the charge and the modern social media talking heads taking it to the next level. It is all nonsense if you ask me.

I just got back into SPS and have added close to 30 frags over the last 3 months. I (honestly) couldn't tell you the silly street name of a single one of them, and don't care. Some were rare and expensive, some cheap and common. I couldn't honestly tell you which is which other with the exception of a run o the mull stylo and digi.

I will add that the same coral may have 10 or 100 different names. Each person that sells the thing claims it is different and more rare than the person that got it from. Or, it colored up differently on bobs tank so it is no longer Fred's super booger slimer and instead sold as Bob's snotty slimer. Who cares it is a green slimer.

 

[Kfactor]

i go for the cheap no names corals i dont care if it has a name lol throw a dumb name on it now its worth 10x the amount

 

[BeanAnimal]

i go for the cheap no names corals i dont care if it has a name lol throw a dumb name on it now its worth 10x the amount

The dirty open secrete is that the vast majority of them are cheap no name corals

 

[Cichlid Dad]

And remember, most everyone that sees your tank will be way more impressed with the pulsing xenia then that boring 500.00 super pink Ulta zinger acro you just got

 

[Dara E]

I really respected how Jake Adams always harped on this subject and preached knowing scientific names. The silly names really make us look silly.

The problem with scientific names is even the taxonomists have a difficult time differentiating which species is which. Can we even figure out which species the Sarcophyton in our tanks belong to? It is very unscientific to guess or have laypeople guess what species their Sarcophyton might be. For zoas, how do you address the diverse array of color morphs for one species?

I think these "silly names" would be appropriate if we as a hobby can set up a registry sort of like horticulturalists have with plants (recognized plant cultivars are often registered by an organization). The registry would provide information on the origin of that coral, their unique characteristics, and maybe even other helpful information.

Also, it would help if hobbyists and coral vendors would respect the provenance of where the coral came from. That is to provide information on where the original specimen was collected (Grube's gorgonian comes to mind) or which wholesaler they obtained it from. So that way we aren't asking if the real weeping willow would please stand up.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The problem with scientific names is even the taxonomists have a difficult time differentiating which species is which. Can we even figure out which species the Sarcophyton in our tanks belong to? It is very unscientific to guess or have laypeople guess what species their Sarcophyton might be. For zoas, how do you address the diverse array of color morphs for one species?

I think these "silly names" would be appropriate if we as a hobby can set up a registry sort of like horticulturalists have with plants (recognized plant cultivars are often registered by an organization). The registry would provide information on the origin of that coral, their unique characteristics, and maybe even other helpful information.

Also, it would help if hobbyists and coral vendors would respect the provenance of where the coral came from. That is to provide information on where the original specimen was collected (Grube's gorgonian comes to mind) or which wholesaler they obtained it from. So that way we aren't asking if the real weeping willow would please stand up.

Ok, a couple things here...i agree with you on one point and disagree on another. You can't simply go by scientific name for multiple reasons. Two that instantly come to mind are the fact that corals are incredibly difficult to identify at the species level. Furthermore, as you pointed out, these are color morphs/genetic variations among the same species which are given different names (in the scientific community this is referred to as phenotypic plasticity).
Where i disagree is where you say that there should be some sort of registry. Vendors do not want that. That would make it impossible for them to come up with absurd slight variations and claim them by a new made up name.
Lastly, in regards to the natural geographical distribution, while i see what you're getting at i have to partially disagree about how relevant that really is after many years in captivity. This is partly why so many people try to avoid maricultured corals and wild collected corals (they have differing requirements in regards to both water and light parameters).