The name game

 

It's my opinion as a scientist and an aquarium professional that all of the coral names we see recently especially for zoanthids and acroporids are ridiculous and only serve to create confusion, deception, and drive prices up. The name shouldn't be based on the finder but on the species and characteristics of the lineage...Blue Acropora tenuis, red birdsnest, I'm even ok with superman zoanthids because people know they are red and blue. For establishing lineage and understanding genetic resilience within speices, I'm ok with tried and tested named corals such as Garf bonsai (Acropora secale), Tubbs stellata (Montipora stellata) or the original zoanthid rockstars like "BamBams, fruitloops, and rastas", but lets stop naming stuff after ourselves when there's already 3 names for that exact color morph of a species... annoying, often dishonest, and definitely confusing.

 

Imagine a world where species name and color was used along with lighting, chemistry, and flow in which it's grown to sell coral. Species will vary in color and shape based on environment but at least it's a baseline. A white pic and a blue pic with whatever camera settings, white balance, photoshop were used. Its a lot of work but people are making hundreds of dollars on inaccurately portraying frags. A system which gives actual information and accurate real photos  is worth it to the consumer and so lets demand that and educate new aquarists about not getting fooled. Lets make the hobby honest and keep people in it, promote health of the animals and longevity and success through demoting people being taken advantage of through false marketing hype and false advertising. The guys who have created a name for themselves through high quality and honesty should be fine. Putting your name/company in front of the scientific name is ideal in this case to maintain lineage. ORA hawkins echinata, WWC grafted Montipora, GARF bonsai Acropora secale...legit. I'm ok with names like rastas and fruitloops for zoanthids because they represent colors and are commonly known at this stage. Things like rainbow incinerators, rainbow infusions, fairy farts, these are over-hyped, overpriced, inaccurately represented, and lead to a bad situation. People buy some at a high price thinking they can turn around and sell for a premium but, even if they get what they paid originally, the market and name game swing and these wheeler dealer investors loose.