This Iron-Toothed Sea Creature Found 18,000 Feet Down Has a Crowdsourced Name

The post Iron-toothed sea creature discovered at 18,000 feet deep has a crowdsourced name appeared first on AZ Animals.

Quick shot

• In 2024, Japanese researchers discovered a new chiton species in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench off the coast of Japan

• The chiton was discovered at a depth of 5,500 meters.

• Scientists studying the new species, prompted by YouTuber Ze Frank, took to social media to call for its name. They received more than 8,000 suggestions.

• The chosen name is Ferreiraella vulgarismeaning “of the people.”

It’s not uncommon for newly discovered species to make the news, especially when they are discovered 5,500 meters underwater. Unusually, however, the naming of the species is as newsworthy as the discovery itself.

Thanks to the power of YouTube and crowdsourcing, that’s exactly what happened to this expert resident of the deep sea.

Discover the story behind

Meet the newest deep-sea chiton, Ferreiraella vulgaris. The species was first discovered in 2024 when Japanese researchers were exploring the Izu-Ogasawara Trench off the coast of Japan. They discovered a rare and special marine mollusk called a chiton that only lives on sunken logs in the sea.

This mollusk is unique in having eight separate shell plates compared to other mollusc species that have a single solid shell. Separate plates allow for chitons, the newest members of the genus FerreiraWhen threatened, it rolls into a protective ball and clings to the uneven surface of pieces of wood scattered on the seafloor.

Sounding like something straight out of a science fiction movie, chitons also have an iron-covered radula—essentially a tongue of mineralized teeth. This iron tongue allows the chiton to effectively scrape the organic matter it needs to survive.

Chitons can be found in coral reefs and warm coastal waters as well as in the absolute darkness of the ocean floor. Some species can survive at depths of 7,000 feet, enduring the extreme conditions there. As long as there is some wood for them to cling to, they can survive.

When the species was first discovered, researchers operated deep-sea submersibles to collect samples of it and brought them to the Senckenberg Marine Species Alliance (SOSA) research facility. There, scientists documented everything about chitons collected from the seafloor. They determined that it was actually an entirely new species that had never been observed before.

What’s in the name?

When a new species is discovered, it usually takes 10 to 20 years for scientists to fully study it, publish their findings, and settle on an official name. The scientific name follows a process established by Carl Linnaeus in the 1750s and is still used today. The principle behind this process involves binomial nomenclature.

This means the species has two official names. The first is the genus it belongs to, in this case, Ferreira. The second name is chosen by the author who first published his findings about the species in a scientific publication.

While the first name is strictly regulated, the second may be more creative. The only requirements are that it be new, unique and Latin. In the case of this chiton, its second name is populi, meaning “of the people.”

While the official name follows Linnaeus’ guidelines, the naming process is anything but typical. It took less than two years, and scientists didn’t come up with the name.

How social media is helping to make scientific history

The name was crowdsourced by social media users.

Ze Frank, a YouTuber who focuses on science topics, caught the attention of scientists when he profiled the unnamed deep-sea chiton in an episode of his YouTube series “Real Facts.” The episode was a hit and the idea for a public naming contest was born.

Through a collaboration between the Senckenberg Marine Species Alliance (SOSA), Pensoft Publishers and Ze Frank, the public is formally asked to submit possible names for the newly discovered chiton. Within a week, the naming contest received more than 8,000 suggestions, all submitted via social media.

The scientist who published the original discovery ultimately selected the name from thousands of entries. One of them is Prof. Dr. Julia Sigwart, co-chair of SOSA at the Senckenberg Institute and the Natural History Museum in Frankfurt.

According to Sigwalt, “The name we chose, Ferreiraella vulgaristranslated as “people’s”. We’ve been overwhelmed by everyone’s response and the amount of creative name suggestions. “

That’s not to say the decision was easy.

Another strong contender is Ferreira striatameaning “meteor stone turtle”. It reflects the unique pattern on the chiton’s hard shell and is a nod to the chiton’s meteoric rise to fame on YouTube.

Another submission praised the chitons found off the coast of Japan. name Omferreira is a tribute to the popular chiton-like creature created by world-famous Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli.

But in the end, Ferreiraella vulgaris Win the day. The name was coincidentally suggested by 11 different contributors during the contest.

Now that the chiton has an official name, it can be more easily cited and relied upon in future research efforts on this little-studied species. “This new species provides further evidence that deep-sea forest deciduous ecosystems harbor highly specialized and largely undiscovered communities,” Sigvat said.

The original research, including notice of the public naming competition, was published in Biodiversity Data Journal.

The post Iron-toothed sea creature discovered at 18,000 feet deep has a crowdsourced name appeared first on AZ Animals.