Phylogeny
Evolution of the reef organisms started at protozoan
level then branched out in two directions. As below.
Phylogenic Tree
Evolution of Animal Life
From time to time we often hear living creatures referred to by their “scientific
names”, which are usually in Latin, Greek or something equally as unrecognisable.
So if these names are so difficult to remember and understand, then why
bother?
Well almost everybody has at some time been travelling and found that
a creature, which you recognise by one name, has a different local name
to the one you are familiar with. This problem is even greater for scientists
who must communicate with other scientists who not only call creatures
by different names, but also speak different languages.
A Swedish scientist named Carl Linnaeus addressed this problem, in
1735. Linnaeus devised a system by which every living creature could be
given a two-word name by which it could be internationally recognised (“binomial
nomenclature”). The name was derived from a larger system, the taxonomic
system, which divided living creatures into similar groups, according to
certain characteristics.
As an example, let us look at the Great White Shark. This creature
is sometimes also called the White Shark, White Death or White Pointer,
not to mention any foreign language names.
Its taxonomic classification is as follows;
Kingdom Animalia
An animal
Phylum Chordata
has a backbone
Class Elasmobranchii
Shark or stingray
Order Lamniformes
Type of mackerel shark
Family Lamnidae
Whites, makos and porbeagles
Genus Carcharodon
Species carcharias
White Pointer
As it is unreasonable and unnecessary to have to quote this entire classification,
we simply use the last two names, Carcharodon carcharias*, and no matter
where in the World we may be this will always be understood to be the Great
White Shark.
Some of these scientific names have already been adopted into popular
language, such Orca for the Killer Whale, from Orca orcinus, and Dugong
from Dugong dugon.
While it is not necessary to know and understand the scientific name
of every creature, it is a good idea to have some idea of the way in which
creatures classified so that we are better able understand the relationship
between creatures.
* All species names are either underlined or written in Italics, with
only the first letter of the whole name being a capital.
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If you have comments or suggestions, e-mail me: 
pete@reefpix.com.au
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