Marine species named after Hong Kong? Yes! Ranging from marine bacteria to oysters to worms and crabs. The scientific convention stipulates organisms have a ‘binomial’ name – that is a genus name (on or more species to a genus) and a specific name to identify them, e.g. Homo sapiens meaning ‘man thinking’ or ‘thinking man’. As a specific name (e.g. sapiens) Hong Kong is latinized to ‘hongkongensis‘ in this naming convention and there are at least 26 marine species named ‘honkongensis‘ including 2 bacteria, 2 red algaes, 4 shrimps, 2 crabs and 1 other small crustacean, 2 fish, 1 octopus, 4 worms, 2 single-celled animals called forams, 1 coral, 1 mite, 1 beetle (yes, a marine beetle), 1 oyster, 1 clam, 1 snail and 1 slug.
And here they are. Unfortunately I can’t find pictures for them because they are mostly pretty obscure…
Species Name | What is it? | Scientific Grouping |
Ampelisca hongkongensis | Shrimp | Amphipoda |
Hirayamaia hongkongensis | Shrimp | Amphipoda |
Loktanella hongkongensis | Bacteria | Bacteria |
Owenweeksia hongkongensis | Bacteria | Bacteria |
Laevicirce hongkongensis | Clam | Bivalve |
Crassostrea hongkongensis | Oyster | Bivalve |
Litarachna hongkongensis | Mite | Arachnida |
Octopus hongkongensis | Octopus | Cephalopoda |
Asterocheres hongkongensis | Small crustaceans | Copepoda |
Athanas hongkongensis | Shrimp | Decapoda |
Charybdis (Goniohellenus) hongkongensis | Crab | Decapoda |
Neotroglocarcinus hongkongensis | Crab | Decapoda |
Periclimenes hongkongensis | Shrimp | Decapoda |
Massilina hongkongensis | Unicellular animals with shell (my PhD topic!) – know as forams | Foraminifera |
Parafissurina hongkongensis | Unicellular animals with shell (my PhD topic!) – know as forams | Foraminifera |
Taranidaphne hongkongensis | Snail | Gastropoda |
Bryothinusa hongkongensis | Beetle – yes, a marine beetle | Insecta (Coleoptera) |
Noumea hongkongiensis | Sea slug (snail without shell), known to divers as “nudies” | Nudibranchia |
Paraminabea hongkongensis | Coral | Octocorallia |
Grania hongkongensis | Worm | Oligochaete |
Bathygobius hongkongensis | Fish | Pisces |
Bostrychia hongkongensis | Red algae | Plantae |
Laurencia hongkongensis | Red algae | Plantae |
Dentatisyllis hongkongensis | Worm | Polychaete |
Neogyptis hongkongensis | Worm | Polychaete |
Syllidia hongkongensis | Worm | Polychaete |