Deep Sea Snail Species Named After Singer Joe Strummer
- 10 years ago
A newly identified species of deep sea snail has been named after British songwriter and singer Joe Strummer.
A newly identified species of deep sea snail has been named after British songwriter and singer Joe Strummer.
Called Alviniconcha strummeri, the invertebrates are about the size of a golf ball. They live approximately 65 hundred feet below the surface of the sea.
Study co-author Shannon Johnson, from California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute commented “Because they look like punk rockers in the 70s and 80s and have purple blood and live in such an extreme environment, we decided to name one new species after a punk rock icon.”
They have degraded shells or sometimes no shells at all, due to where they live. The species is found in microhabitats at Indo-Pacific hydrothermal vents; the environment of which is extraordinarily hot, sulfidic and acidic.
When the shells are intact, the outer layer contains noticeable spikes, something that bears a resemblance to the style of punk rockers. The strummeri species is only one out of five that was identified and documented in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.
The name was given to the strummeri snail shortly before the 12th anniversary of the rocker’s death.
A newly identified species of deep sea snail has been named after British songwriter and singer Joe Strummer.
Called Alviniconcha strummeri, the invertebrates are about the size of a golf ball. They live approximately 65 hundred feet below the surface of the sea.
Study co-author Shannon Johnson, from California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute commented “Because they look like punk rockers in the 70s and 80s and have purple blood and live in such an extreme environment, we decided to name one new species after a punk rock icon.”
They have degraded shells or sometimes no shells at all, due to where they live. The species is found in microhabitats at Indo-Pacific hydrothermal vents; the environment of which is extraordinarily hot, sulfidic and acidic.
When the shells are intact, the outer layer contains noticeable spikes, something that bears a resemblance to the style of punk rockers. The strummeri species is only one out of five that was identified and documented in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.
The name was given to the strummeri snail shortly before the 12th anniversary of the rocker’s death.