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Katakana convention for animal names?

I was wondering why many animal names — in food and non-food contexts — especially those that have kanji are often rendered in Katakana.

Thinking of prawns, rabbits, eel and fish names in general.

Thanks in advance!

2 comments

  1. i mean realistically, why not? most of those kanji are very rare

    but theres no rule that says you have to write them a certain way

  2. I asked the same question once myself and was told that:

    – if it uses non-standard/rarely used kanji then using kana is simply easier to read

    – when animals (and other organisms) are referred to in a biological/academic context, it is customary to use katakana even for animals with common kanji, because it looks more “technical”

    – it might just be a stylistic choice or a way to make that word stick out more

    Edit: Just found this stackexchange post which basically says the same thing: [https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/20840/why-are-the-names-of-plants-and-animals-often-written-in-katakana](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/20840/why-are-the-names-of-plants-and-animals-often-written-in-katakana)

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