It's always cool when science fiction influences real science! Jonathan Armbruster, who is the biological sciences professor and curator of fishes at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History in Alabama, made headlines earlier this week when he decided to name a new species of fish after an iconic character from a Galaxy far, far away. Armbruster has named over 40 different fish species in his career, including this one, and says that there over 800 unique species of suckermouth armored catfish alone. Reportedly, this particular fish was caught in 1998 in the Gurupi River in Brazil, but Armbruster just recently discovered significant differences between it and previously established species, thus warranting a new species to be named. Upon noticing the Fish's familiar facial characteristics, a colleague of Armbruster, arachnologist Chris Hamilton, suggested that it looked like a certain Rodian Bounty Hunter from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Armbruster explains, "After a little prodding, I realized he was talking about Greedo. We then knew what the name had to be, " Peckoltia greedoi was the name chosen for the Catfish.
Armbruster adds that he is indeed a Star Wars fan himself and considers Greedo to be his favorite character. "He barely had any lines. They were spoken in a foreign language with subtitles and he was killed right away. But he's always been sort of this enigmatic figure and very cool-looking."
You can check out a video below which features Jonathan Armbruster discussing the fish and how it came to garner this unique name in more detail:
Source: Huffington Post
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