CHAPTER TWENTY 



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ical List of Aquarium. Fishes, ^ 

 their Breeding Habits, Care, Etc* / 



The compiling of a list of names of aquarium fishes presents several 

 difficulties which ought to be understood by the reader. 



As new species are brought in by sailors and others they find their 

 way into the hands of dealers who at best have only slight equipment 

 for identifying specimens. Commercial necessity demands that some sort 

 of name be given quickly. In many cases the aid of scientific friends 

 and institutions is invoked for a hasty or general classification. The fact 

 is that a quick and accurate identification is often impossible, and in 

 many instances the careful work of an able scientist must be revised. 

 This will easily be realized when it is remembered that science has so 

 far listed upwards of 20,000 species of fishes. 



The result has been that a considerable proportion of aquarium fishes 

 have been mis-named as to species and not a few as to family also. As 

 might be expected, many of the incorrect names have been popularly ac- 

 cepted and come into general usage among fanciers. 



It will undoubtedly be helpful to many readers to have the fishes listed 

 in different ways, so that no matter under what name the fish was first 

 introduced to them, they will be able to readily locate it and secure the 

 desired information regarding its requirements and habits. This has 

 been done. 



Those who care to correct names and bring them up to the latest 

 scientific revisions will find the arrangement of the list makes it easy to 

 do so. 



Old or obsolete names which have been revised are in regular 

 Roman type, such as is used here for these remarks. The accepted scien- 

 tific names are in Italics, or sloping letter. In such lines comes first the 

 fish name, then the name of the ichthyologist who first named the species. 

 If the first name or genus has been changed to another genus since he 

 named it, his name is placed in parenthesis. The common name, if any 

 is known, follows. Then comes the habitat or natural geographical loca- 

 tion of the fish, which is followed by the family to which it belongs. The 



