Ethnobiological Classification of Modern Heuksan Fish: the Perspectives of Continuing and Changing Traditional Knowledge in the 19th Century

This paper is a study on the marine knowledge of Heuksan islanders, especially from the historical perspective on the ethnobiological classification of Heuksan fishes. I compare the analysis of the empirical data conducted in the early 21st century in Heuksan Island and the analysis of the literature data of Jasan Eobo written in the early 19th century. I examine how the traditional knowledge of the names and classification of the Heuksan fishes in the late Joseon Dynasty continued and changed in the more than 200 years of modern Heuksando. Fish is conceptualized as an animal that lives in water and has scales on its body and swims in its fins. Based on the prototypicalty of fish, cetaceans and cephalopod are still included in the category of fish in the 21st century. However, the shrimp, jellyfish, sea cucumber, and sea hare which were located far from the prototype category are excluded from the category of fish. It is a relatively recent change that a finless porpoise, a killer whale, and a dolphin were recognized as a whale. Changes in the marine environment as well as the arrival of scientific knowledge and information coming from the land are also causing changes in the islanders’ fishing and fish list.