It is very important to know the living organisms around us. A species may occur in nature in many different forms (like sexes, larvae and morphs). Over one and half million species of animals have been described and it is estimated that about 3 to 10 million species still await discovery. It is therefore, necessary to put such a large number of species into definite groups so that their identities and properties are established. The assignment of a name to an organism provides the only key to all the information available about that species and its relatives (instead of lengthy descriptions). Careful and accurate identification and classification are of vital importance and if one wants to acquire knowledge in scientific way, the organisms should be grouped into smaller units.

Taxonomy is the practice  and science  of  classification.  The  word taxonomy coined  by A.P. de Candolle (1813) is derived from the Greek words taxis (meaning ‘order’ or ‘arrangement’) and nomos (meaning ‘law’ or ‘science’). Taxonomy uses taxonomic units, known as taxa (singular taxon). Originally taxonomy referred only to classification of organisms but now it is used in wider sense to the principles underlying such a classification. Another term ‘Systematics’ is often used in taxonomy. It is the system of classification developed by Carl Linne’ in 1735. Systematics is often incorrectly used as synonym to taxonomy. Taxonomy actually deals with the naming and classification of organisms and forms only a part of biological systematics called the science of biodiversity. Classification is placing organisms into groups on the basis of their relationships. Such relationships are associations based on contiguity, similarity or both.

Objectives :

• • Identify information sources and vocabulary the taxonomists use to describe different types of aquatic organisms
  • Identify candidate species of fin fishes and shell fishes which are used for successful aquaculture practices.
  • Aware of the techniques behind collection, preservation, identification, naming and documentation of new organisms.
  • Analyze the relationship between organisms at different taxonomic levels.
  • Apply different taxonomic and systematic laws for describing a species.

References :

• Dayrat, B. 2005. Towards integrative taxonomy. Biological Journalof the Linnean Society 85: 407-415.
• Alcock A. 1901. A descriptive catalogue of the Indian deep sea Crustacea Decapoda Macrura and Anomala in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, India. 286pp.
• Fujita, m.k., Leache, A.D., Burbrink, F.T., McGuire, J.A and Moritz, C.2012. Trends in Ecology and Evoloution27(2)