Plants and animals and 専門用語 oh my

I have to translate a lot of animal/plant-related 専門用語 for tourism stuff, etc. so I figured I'd post the fruits of my wikipedia searches (pun intended) and hopefully spare someone else some work. If you have anything similar to share please do!


Today I looked up イワシ in English.

Usually you can go with "sardine", but イワシ actually is a 総合 word for a bunch of different species. I had to draw a diagram to figure it out, so skip to the bottom if you don't care about *science*.


A. ニシン目 order Clupeiformes

1. ニシン科 family Clupeidae (aka sardines, herrings, etc.)

a. ニシン亜科 sub-family Clupeinae ("sardine")

i. マイワシ Japanese pilchard

ii. ママカリakaサッパ Japanese sardinella

iii. other species etc.

b. ウルメイワシ亜科 sub-family Dussumieriinae (now considered separate family) ("herring")

i. ウルメイワシ round herring

ii. other species etc.

2. カタクチイワシ科 family Engraulidae ("anchovy")

skip skip

i. カタクチイワシ Japanese anchovy


The word イワシ refers to the bolded species, and the generic English names are underlined. So if you know the specific kind of イワシ you're dealing with, you can give an accurate name. Also English "sardine" and "herring" →イワシ, "anchovy" can be イワシ or アンチョビ.


Salmon and サーモン and 鮭 are different fish as well but I don't have a diagram for that yet.

On salmon, サケ, trout, and マス

The lazy and sometimes scientifically inaccurate way is salmon⇔サケ (シャケ) and trout⇔マス.

As I understand it from Wikipedia, all four words used to refer to specific fish found in Britain (brown trout and Atlantic salmon) and Japan (サクラマス、シロザケ). But as people expanded across the Americas, they discovered new species of fish and decided that fish that swim downstream to the ocean were salmon and fish that stay in the river were trout. Simple!

Meanwhile, after the country opened, Japanese people went to new areas and encountered more fish from the Pacific and Americas, called "salmon." Fine, we'll call it サケ. But the downstream/stay in river way of thinking caught on and they started to call some fish that were actually part of the salmon family マス. So the result is that both the English and Japanese names are totally wrong for the species and often don't match up with each other.

Ex. (skipping the scientific names because no one cares)

A. サケ目 order Salmoniformes

1. サケ類 family Salmonidae

a. genus Oncorhynchus (Pacific)

i. マスノスケ　英King salmon 米Chinook salmon

ii. ビワマス Biwa trout

iii. サクラマス masu salmon (the original マス)

iv. ギンザケ coho/silver salmon

v. シロザケ chum salmon (the original サケ)

vi. カラフトマス pink salmon

vii. ニシマス rainbow trout

viii. ベニザケ sockeye salmon

other species etc.

b. genus Salmo (Atlantic)

i. ブラウントラウト brown trout (the original trout)

ii. タイセイヨウサケ Atlantic salmon (the original salmon)

other species etc.

c. genus Salvelinus (aka char/charr)

i. カウマス brook trout

ii. レイクトラウト lake trout

other species etc.

tldr; history and language screwing science over again

Today on 「hue you think you're a science major?」: ムギ. Rye? Barley? Wheat??

According to the Wikipedia, ムギ is tacked on the end of plants that look similar regardless of whether they're actually related. The ムギ in 麦茶 is オオムギ Barley, but it is also tacked on to oats, rye, and wheat names. These plants are all genetically similar, but the exception is ハトムギ Job's tears, which is actually closer to corn.

Here is what the tree looks like, which you can skim for some scientific names that anyone with a 6-year-old's sense of humor would enjoy...

I. family Poaceae イネ科 (aka "true grasses")

A. subfamily Pooideae イチゴツナギ亜科

1. tribe Triticeae コムギ科

a. genus Triticum コムギ属 (aka "小麦" "wheat")

i. species パンコムギ common wheat

ii. クラブコムギ club wheat

b. Hordeum オオムギ属 (aka "barley")

i. オオムギ barley (used in 麦茶)

c. Secale ライムギ属 (aka "rye")

i. ライムギ rye

2. Aveneae

a. Avena カラスムギ属 (aka "oats")

i. エンバク oat

ii. カラスムギ common wild oat

B. Panicoideae キビ亜科

1. Andropogoneae

a. Coix ジュズダマ属

i. ジュズダマ Job's tears

→variety=ハトムギ Job's tears/Adlay

b. Zea トウモロコシ属

i. トウモロコシ corn/maize