Talk:Killifish

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This page starts by talking about Cyprinodontiformes, but I think killifish is generally used of the family Cyprinodontidae, not applied to the whole order. I suggest that any general stuff should go to Cyprinodontiformes and this page should deal with Cyprinodontidae, with a note if there are any fishes called 'killifish' outside this family. Myopic Bookworm 11:15, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

We generally follow FishBase's nomenclature, which uses "pupfish" for Cyprinodontidae and no single common name for Cyprinodontiformes. "Killifish" is one of those terms that don't fit taxonomy neatly (thus no taxobox), and all we should be doing is making a limited number of general comments and directing people to the formal taxa for further detail. There are a whole set of articles concerning fish common names that are not part of the hierarchy, see sardine for example. Stan 14:34, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, I'm no FishBase expert, but I'm always suspicious of scientists who try to over-rationalize common names. It is common for such big taxonomic resources to apply common names in a would-be prescriptive way, quite at variance with actual usage. The English word "pupfish" is applied firstly to Cyprinodon macularius and its relatives in the genus Cyprinodon, which extends through North American, Caribbean, and South American coastal regions. As far as I know there's nothing in the Mediterranean region that is actually called "pupfish". If "killifish" is used rather vaguely for a range of cyprinodontid fishes, then the article for killifish should say that. Surely it should not imply, as the entry presently does, that "killifish" is a general term for Cyprinodontiformes (including guppies): as you point out, there is no common name for Cyprinodontiformes. I've seen "Cyprinodon" called a killifish, but I haven't (yet) seen members of the Poeciliidae called killifish. Myopic Bookworm 16:38, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I think this article needs some tinkering to explain different uses of the term better - I suspect that it was started by somebody who held the idea that the group was taxonomically well-defined, but you know you're getting in trouble when you have to start by explaining that your term includes an ill-defined assortment of families! Feel free to work this article over. Stan 23:10, 22 March 2006 (UTC)