| Common names do not -necessarily- have to have a "real" meaning. In the case of Japanese names, most clams and oysters have a "Gai" tailing tag to denote their origin.
The JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) gives the following "common names" to certain varieties of Pearl Oysters:
Mabe-gai: Penguin Winged Oyster - Pteria penguin
Akoya-gai: Common Pearl Oyster - Pinctada imbricata (=fucata)
Shirochou-gai: Silver/Gold Lipped Pearl Oyster - Pinctada maxima
Kurocho-gai: Black-lipped PO - P. margaritifera.
In spanish, the common names employed are "Madre Perla" for the "Panamian Black Lipped Oyster" -Pinctada mazatlanica- (loose translatuon is just "Mother-of-Pearl") and "Concha Nácar" for the "Rainbow Lipped Pearl Oyster" -Pteria sterna- (loose translation is "Nacreous Shell").
Maybe a japanese speaker may help us with the japanese names. I would like to know more about the meaning of the names. |