A Snail So Hardcore It's Named After A Punk Rocker
Shannon Johnson, a researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, found that when she talked to youngsters about sea snails, she communicated a little more effectively if she skipped the technical description and called them "punk-rock snails."
"Their entire shells are covered in spikes," Johnson explains. "And then the spikes are actually all covered in fuzzy white bacteria."
These punk rock snails live thousands of feet underwater, crowded around the mouths of chimneys of hydrothermal vents — the kind of place that might survive the apocalyptic "nuclear error" in the Clash album London Calling.
"They live in hot, acidic poison, basically, so they're pretty hardcore," she says.
Since Johnson had such success in calling the spiky, acid-loving mollusks punk-rock snails, she and her colleagues decided to name them Alviniconcha strummeri, after the late Joe Strummer, frontman for the Clash.
"Not only was a he a punk-rock icon — he's kind of one of the originators of the punk movement — but he also was kind of an environmentalist," she says. "He started a foundation that was planting trees all over the world. He's a neat guy."
Strummer is not the only big name with his own namesake animal. A wooly lemur from Madagascar is named after John Cleese — the Avahi cleesei. A frog in the Amazon that makes a shrill, bat-like call is named after Ozzy Osbourne.
The Ramones each have their own trilobite, and there's a parasitic wasp named after Shakira. The scientists who discovered the wasp say it causes the caterpillar it inhabits to wriggle and writhe, which reminds them of Shakira's energetic dancing.
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Transcript
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LONDON CALLING")
THE CLASH: (Singing) London calling...
SIMON: The signature sound of The Clash. And Shannon Johnson, a researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, found that when she talked to youngsters about sea snails, she communicated a little more effectively if she skipped all the technical description and just called them punk-rock snails.
SHANNON JOHNSON: Their entire shells are covered in spikes and then the spikes are actually all covered in fuzzy white bacteria.
SIMON: The punk-rock snails live thousands of feet underwater, crowded around the mouths of chimneys of hydrothermal vents. Let's put it this way, it doesn't exactly sound like Santa Monica.
JOHNSON: So they live in hot acidic poison, basically. So they're pretty hard-core.
SIMON: Since Shannon Johnson had such success in calling the spiky acid-loving mollusks punk-rock snails, she and her colleagues decided to name them Alviniconcha strummeri after Joe Strummer, frontman of The Clash.
JOHNSON: Not only was he a punk-rock icon - he's kind of one of the originators of the punk movement - but he also was kind of an environmentalist, he started a foundation that was planting trees all over the world. He's a neat guy.
SIMON: Joe Strummer's not the only big name with his own namesake animal. There is a lemur named after John Cleese. There is a frog named after Ozzy Osbourne. You wonder, does the frog bite the heads off of bats? The Ramones each have their own trilobite and there's a parasitic wasp named after Shakira. The scientists who discovered the wasp say that it causes the caterpillar it inhabits to wiggle and writhe, which reminds them of Shakira's energetic dancing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIPS DON'T LIE")
SHAKIRA: (Singing) I'm on tonight. You know my hips don't lie and I'm starting to feel it's right.
SIMON: It gets kind of lonely in those research labs, doesn't it? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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