Greek anyone? Or maybe some Latin?

Yes, I am recycling images - because recycling is
a good thing to do, right?

I am putting together an activity book which I am hoping to get printed so I can brainwash children to not litter, eat sustainable fish and love the ocean... Maybe brainwash isn't the appropriate word, but it is more fun to use. Actually, I don't currently have a way to get this printed (because that costs money - anyone know someone who would want to donate?) so in the meantime it is going to be up on the website when I am happy with it (and figure out how to make it visible - yes some of it is up there but you can't find it, in theory this is my master plan but, also, I am not sure how to add another tab to the menu). 

I am finding this immensely fun. Who knew I could actually consider this real work! Of course it isn't really in my job description but today is Friday and my boss did say it is a useful thing to do. It is mostly crosswords, match up thingys, word searches etc. 

Anyway, one of the pages I was thinking of making was to explain scientific names in a fun way (no really, I CAN make it fun). In my children's book (anyone know how to get that published) I gave a simple definition: "In biology we write the scientific names of animals in Latin (or Greek) and in italics. Species names are made up of a family name which is written first and in capitals, and a specific name which comes second (e.g. Littorina africana)" but that is because I name the characters with derivatives of their scientific names. (You already knew I was a nerd). 

To be honest, I find scientific names quite fun... hold on, this isn't a symptom of my nerdiness. For instance, I love the the scientific name for the African Penguin, Spheniscus demersus, means "wedge-shaped diver" because it is shaped like a wedge and dives!!! How beautiful is that? And that seahorses are "hippocampus" because "hippo" means horse and the common octopus is Octopus (eight feet) vulgaris (common), also cephalopod = head/feet. 

So today I have found out that the Large-scale mullet is Liza macro (big) -lepis (scale), the Northern bottlenose whale is Hyperodon ampullatus and ampulla means bottle. Cetacean (the word for dolphins and whales) means large sea animal - and I think the blue whale would agree. The Pelagic (Greek - of the sea) Cormorant is Phalacrocorax pelagicus so what does that make the Bank Coromorant, Phalacrocorax neglectus? Are you loving this as much as me? OK maybe I am a complete nerd and I did actually do Latin in standard 6 and 7 and loved it, so maybe that stuck with me. 

Photo credit: Science Friday

BUT, if you do love this as much as me, do any of you know cool definitions for scientific names? It is a surprisingly difficult thing to Google. (Not even Wiki has all the answers and I can't actually think of that many scientific names off the top of my head and no, I didn't know all of the ones mentioned either but Wiki does have this cool page). And, if you are just thinking I am a lost-cause nerd then even you will have to appreciate that there is a fungus from Malaysia called Spongiforma squarepantsii and they are thinking of naming an octopus Opisthoteuthis adorabilis because it is so cute. 

Still not convinced? Try this word search which has a bunch of marine-related words but also the names of my family's pets. 

S

T

A

T

B

O

F

F

S

H

O

R

E

D

R

I

L

L

I

N

G

S

O

U

Y

J

H

A

L

S

Q

H

A

M

Y

W

E

N

B

C

A

O

C

E

A

N

W

I

N

E

R

S

U

B

T

K

L

E

D

U

A

F

I

N

V

A

S

I

V

E

S

P

E

C

I

E

S

W

H

I

N

E

S

O

O

F

E

S

T

S

G

A

O

L

E

P

W

R

T

M

O

N

E

Y

L

A

L

B

A

T

R

O

S

S

J

I

L

L

S

T

U

T

U

R

T

L

I

A

H

M

L

A

F

R

I

C

A

N

P

E

N

G

U

I

N

S

E

A

L

A

L

L

A

M

M

A

M

I

R

I

O

B

A

L

L

A

S

T

W

A

T

E

R

N

C

H

V

I

E

I

H

A

S

D

O

L

P

H

I

N

V

O

J

K

T

Z

A

R

H

A

K

E

A

G

A

I

E

N

D

N

A

E

I

L

M

E

O

W

O

I

E

L

A

A

S

A

R

A

A

P

P

N

I

F

L

N

N

D

A

A

S

I

A

A

I

D

L

I

N

N

F

O

C

T

A

G

D

I

L

P

A

R

N

I

P

G

Y

I

L

B

A

N

D

L

O

S

L

N

E

G

A

N

K

I

O

O

I

N

E

L

C

G

Y

R

E

I

G

A

A

I

N

Y

R

E

P

P

U

T

S

A

M

E

H

E

C

O

N

S

E

R

V

A

T

I

O

N

H

N

M

L

C

V

A

U

E

I

T

E

T

S

I

D

I

N

G

O

E

P

L

E

H

L

W

O

W

Z

R

A

R

I

H

O

G

G

A

H

I

R

H

B

E

A

C

H

R

A

M

S

G

A

T

J

H

B

E

R

S

J

A

T

O

H

O

N

C

C

O

A

S

T

I

M

O

N

K

P

L

A

N

K

T

O

N

S

X

O

X

O

M

Y

V

C

N

E

H

O

N

N

E

S

W

B

E

N

J

I

J

G

D

E

S

E

A

G

U

L

L

S

R

U

Y

N

S

B

E

O

A

A

A

L

G

A

L

B

L

O

O

M

S

A

S

N

O

E

K

I

O

I

S

A

M

A

R

I

N

E

P

R

O

T

E

C

T

E

D

A

R

E

A

S

S

H

U

M

B

A

F

U

N

S