I don't know too many latin names, but I sometimes use some of Yosemite Sam's names...

 

"You shovel-nosed mackerel!"

"You hammerhead halibut!"

"You buck-toothed barnacle!"

"You fin-flappin' flounder!"

"You bushwhackin' barracuda!"

"You shark-toothed salmon!"

etc., etc.  

 

And sometimes I call fish names I learned in the Navy...

 

 

Tight lines,

Bob

Speaking of the top of your head....

 

 

I cannot tell you the species of bird perched (pun intended) on my head, let alone its scientific name.

I will sometimes say, "Hmmm. A perciform," in the same tone in which I would say, "Hmmm. A wise guy, aye?"

That's about it, though.

Josh

No, I can barely speak English as it is. Adding words with lots of letters arranged in funny ways into my everyday vocabulary would only further prove how big of an idiot I am.

 

I try to keep it simple as well. I can either keep it simple or make it complicated and prove my ignorance to all within earshot.

Scientific names serve a different audience with a different purpose, mostly. But I may use them in a fishing context when I'm talking about an entire taxonomic group -in part because I'm used to them, and partly because they are more precise and save typing. So I may use the terms Salmonids (trout and salmon) or Centrarchids (sunfish, crappies, and "bass" -but not striped, white, or yellow bass -they are Moronids). Recently I used the word Ostariophysi because it sweeps in an entire group of related critters that share a charateristic -the one that was asked about. I could have listed them all or used "other fish" but that could mean .... perch or smelt or ... and it didn't. I'm not averse to using appropriate nomenclature and am not too concerned that someone may need to look a word up, or not.

 

I'm also a fly-fisher and many of the insects that trout and other insectivorous fish eat don't have common names, especially at the level that experienced trout FFers take it. Being able to separate Baetis tricaudatus from Drunella lata allows you to literally go to the stream at the appropriate prescribed time with just the right set of flies and cash in. It's powerful information, and adds a lot of fun in my book. One doesn't need to know the insects to have some fun and catch trout of course: Here's a good story told by FFer Joe Humphreys:

 

A bunch of anglers are sitting around the wood stove at the fisherman's bar on a cold inclement day, grousing about the tough fishing, and "Latinizing" about the insect hatches of the season. An old codger walks in with a full creel and everyone blurts out, "What fly were they on??" The old guy plucks a wet ragged fly off his vest and says, "Why, this 'ol gray bastid here."

 

I've been fishing long enough now, in such a variety of ways, I am both nerd and codger. I don't discriminate against tackle, methods, or language, be it colloquial, literary, scientific, mathematic, or otherwise. 

You mean like "micropterus horribilus" (more commonly known as the grizzly bass)?

I can't say, on a public forum, what I occasionally call them. It ain't Latin.

Anyone Call Fish By Their Scientific Names Or Latin Meaning?   I do....

 

No.  

 

 

I mean "What?"

 

What/why huh?   You call fish by Latin Meaning?   Please explain.

 Moronids?  Sounds more like a name better suited to those obsessed with catching fish.

 

I've been called worse.

 Moronids?  Sounds more like a name better suited to those obsessed with catching fish.

 

I've been called worse.

Wondered who might notice that.