Psychedelic shrimp with tons of sonic energy named after Pink Floyd
Scientists have honored a pistol shrimp with a bright pink snapping claw with the ultimate rocker name: Synalpheus pinkfloydi.
The newly discovered sea creature, from the tropical eastern Pacific near Panama, was named after the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Zootaxa.
The shrimp can stun and even kill a small fish with its sonic energy, so it's fitting that it's named for a rock band. The British band isn't necessarily known for its super loud sounds and heart-shaking rhythms -- you're more likely to enjoy their tunes from the couch than the dance floor -- but the researchers clearly have a soft spot for the musical group.
The study's three authors include Arthur Anker from the Universidade Federal de Goiás in Brazil, Kristin Hultgren from Seattle University, and Sammy De Grave from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. All of them said they have a strong connection to Pink Floyd.
De Grave is a hard-core Pink Floyd fan, while Anker said he often plays the group's music while working. "Now the band and my work have been happily combined in the scientific literature," Anker said in a news release.
The sonic shrimp isn't the first creature to be named after Pink Floyd. The Umma gumma damselfly, for instance, was named after the band's 1969 album "Ummagumma." But the shrimp is the first crustacean with such a musical honor.
As the authors explained, the shrimp is very similar to Synalpheus antillensis, which can snap its claw at a fast enough speed to cause a bubble to implode, making one of the loudest sounds in the ocean. But that species, which was first described in 1909, has enough "genetic divergence" to make S. pinkfloydi its own, separate species.
Rock on.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
