Heavy metal features phantasmagoric imagery like no other musical genre. So it’s not a complete surprise that a scientist looking to name a menacing-looking creature that lives in the depths of the ocean might look to Metallica for inspiration.
And thus, Macrostylis metallicola was born — well, named. Pitchfork reports that a pair of scientists have named this tiny crustacean in an homage to the venerable metal band.
Drs. Torben Riehl and Bart De Smet, who discovered the species, decided to name it after the thrash metal band both to pay tribute to their work and also make reference to the polymetallic nodules that make up the species’ habitat.
According to a report by the scientists who discovered it, the new species lives in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ), which runs though the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Hawaii. Metallica’s official Instagram page offers more details, along with a number of puns riffing on Metallica song titles — which is entirely understandable, given the circumstances.
The report announcing the crustacean’s discovery suggests that even the power of rock might not be able to stop environmental catastrophes, though. “Local extinction of populations could potentially not be compensated quickly and would mean a loss of genetic diversity of this species,” the doctors write.
If only someone would name another deep-sea creature after Lou Reed, we might get the greatest undersea musical collaboration ever.
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