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(Photo from the NOAA/Dept. of Commerce Photo Library, Gray's Reef Marine Sanctuary Collection) |
Two dozen different species of fish are called sea bass. In fact, there's
a whole Family of fishes known as sea bass. So how do scientists know which fish
they're talking about when they say "sea bass"?
Every species has two kinds of name. It has a common name used
by local fishers and cooks, rather like the nickname that everyone in your school
knows you by. Then it has a two-word scientific name, like the proper name
on your birth certificate. This sea bass goes by the name Centropristis
striata. The first word is the Genus, or group of similar fishes the animal
belongs in; the second one is the Species, and tells which specific animal this
is. (Species>specific, got it?)
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for more about sea bass!