A deep sea snail with purple blood, spiked shell and living near hydrothermal vents are so reminiscent of the punk rock movement of the 1970s and 80s, the team that discovered a new species named it after Joe Strummer, the iconic co-founder of The Clash.
The snail genus Alviniconcha’s spikes may have gotten the team thinking in an new direction in naming of the species. The golf ball-sized snails are found brooding near hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean, as deep as 11,500 feet. They look identical but are in fact separate species, Johnson confirmed after studying their DNA.
“Because they look like punk rockers in the 70s and 80s and they have purple blood and live in such an extreme environment, we decided to name one new species after a punk rock icon,” said Shannon Johnson, a researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
Now known as答:strummeri为了纪念已故的弹奏者，蜗牛加入了一个以标志性音乐家的名字命名的物种联盟 - 鲍勃·马利（Bob Marley）甲壳类寄生虫和一种以弗兰克·扎帕（Frank Zappa）命名的水母。
According to Quentin Wheeler, director of the International Institute for Species Exploration at SUNY, scientists mostly use celebrity names to draw attention to their work, taxonomy and biodiversity. “In our culture, it is one sure way to get species noticed,” Wheeler said. “Some scientists frown on the practice, but their science is in trouble, and if a little humor helps, why not?”
该研究的主要作者约翰逊（Johnson）本月在《系统和生物多样性》杂志上发表了研究结果。该论文介绍了在西太平洋和印度洋发现的五种新物种。
“This gets people excited about science,” Johnson said. “Otherwise, people might not see these snails.”
