Ocean Jasper is an agate by the standard definition (agate being translucent and jasper being opaque). Ocean Jasper is rarely opaque. It was decided to call the material a jasper because rhyolitic patterns have been associated with the jasper category in the past and because "jasper" is listed as the mineral resource in the mining claims owned by Madagascar Minerals. The word "Ocean" comes mainly from the location at the edge of the sea, along the northwest coast of Madagascar where the deposit was found. The forms in the rock itself are also suggestive of the bubbling surf of the sea.