Shown: Alviniconcha Strummeri
Like rock stars with mohawks brooding in leather jackets studded with spikes, the snail genus Alviniconcha shares a spiked shell.
“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.
“Ordinary snails have smooth shells, but not this one. …the researchers who recently discovered it named it after Joe Strummer, the lead singer from The Clash. Alviniconcha Strummeri lives in acidic deep-sea environments, which totally makes sense because that’s a punk rock place to live. As long as scientists follow the international codes of botanical and zoological nomenclature, they name species as they wish. This gets people excited about science, otherwise, people might not see these snails.”
Stannous Flouride's Book of Truthiness 