68 MARCH 2018 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Recently, the oyster research, aquaculture, and trade communities were shaken up by the publication of two papers by Daniele Salvi et al. (2014, 2017) in which the genus Crassostrea was split into three different genera, such that the genus Crassostrea was shrunk to include only the Atlantic species, while the Pacific species were assigned to the genera Talonostrea and Magallana. The consequence of this taxonomic action was that the wellknown Crassostrea gigas was rebaptized to Magallana gigas. This nomenclatural change was almost immediately endorsed and implemented by the “World Register of Marine Species” (WoRMS), which could give the erroneous impression that from now of the name Crassostrea gigas should be abandoned in favour of Magallana gigas. Such a rash nomenclatural change for this Crassostrea gigas or Magallana gigas: A community-based scientific response Thierry Backeljau well-known species worldwide is, however, not necessary and, in my opinion, even ill-advised for it would destabilize a long-term use of a commonly accepted, unequivocal name. Luckily, this point is also recognized by WoRMS itself, since it does recognize the name Crassostrea gigas as an “accepted, alternate representation” of Magallana gigas. In the same spirit, WoRMS does recognize Crassostrea talonata as an “accepted, alternate representation” of Talonostrea talonata. Hence, Crassostrea researchers, students, and the oyster stakeholder community in general should not contribute to possible confusion or make life difficult by starting to implement the name Magallana gigas or by applying the names Magallana and Talonostrea to the former Pacific Crassostrea species. There is neither a nomenclatural obligation, nor a scientific need to do so!
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