A team of scientists from universities in the UK, the US, and Brazil have described a new species of pistol shrimp in the journal Zootaxa. They named it after their favorite band, because it resembles them in a couple of ways.
Researchers have named a sonically super-powered shrimp after Pink Floyd, because of its bright colour and pistol-quick ability to blast enemies with sound.
The newly-discovered species of pistol shrimp, dubbed Synalpheus pinkfloydi, uses a big, bright-pink claw to shoot shockwaves at its foes, in its habitat off the Pacific coast of Panama.
Pistol shrimp are known for their ability to stun prey with a sonic blast by snapping their claws, which also produces a heat wave. Wouldn't you have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the international group of scientists discussed their rational for naming the species Synalpheus pinkfloydi? Read more about the research at CTV News. -via Dave Barry
(Image credit: Arthur Anker/Universidade Federal de Goiás)