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Roccus Saxatilis
Winter boredom browsing thru old files brought this up. Striped Bass
for many years went by scientific names Rocccus Saxatilis or Roccus
Lineatus. In 1966 two scientists at British Museum (as Clammer says
WTF do they know) decided that the Striped Bass was better kept in
the white perch genus, Merone. Many biologists were outraged and one of them, Miss Susan Smith of the US Bureau of Sports Fisheries
in Sandy Hook, NJ composed this poem called "Taxonomic Tragedy".
Oh, Roccus Saxatilis is a name we'll surely miss.
The culprit is, I'm sad to say, a taxonomic twist.
You see the Striped Bass used to be
Merone Saxatilis,
And now they've changed it back again
At least that what they tell us.
Yes, Merone's now the genus name
I never figured why,
But when that old name Roccus goes
I'm sure I'm going to cry.
Why Roccus cracks right off the tongue!-
Like speed and strength and size!
While Merone kind of rolls around
Then gives a sigh and dies.
For sure a proud and fighting fish,
I think it's quite a shame
That now he'll have to swim through life,
With such a silly name.
Many thanks to Susan Smith.
Anyone want to pass the boredom embroidering that
on dollies and pillows.
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