“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.
The name A. strummeri honors Joe Strummer, the lead singer and a guitarist of the British punk rock band The Clash.
Here’s the video for “Keys to Your Heart,” recorded by the 101ers, Strummer’s pre-Clash band, in 1976:
Deemed punk rock, snail named after The Clash singer Joe Strummer
Image: Shannon Johnson — Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute