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A hesionid worm (center) crawling on a whale bone amongst microbial detritus and the famous bone-eating Osedax. Courtesy of MBARI.
World Oceans Day Celebration
Winners: Name a New Deep-Sea Worm
Thanks to everyone who participated in our Name a Species Contest!
We received more than 165 submissions to name two species of deep-sea worms, newly discovered by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Names were submitted from 22 states as well as from Greece and Taiwan. Last week, more than 1,100 votes were cast for the finalists, received from a dozen countries, including Indonesia, Italy, Japan, and South Africa. Congratulations to the winners!
Winners
Submitted by the public-at-large
Vrijenhoekia ketea
Laura McIntyre, San Diego, age 19
Ketea is plural for sea monsters and is also the original root for whale (you may have heard marine mammals referred to as cetacea), which gives the name a nice mixture of meanings. One sea monster played a role in the myth surrounding Hesione, the beautiful princess of Troy that the group of worms Hesionidae was named after. The sea monster Ketos was sent by Poseidon as punishment for the land of Troy and Hesione was sacrificed to it (but saved by Heracles!)
Submitted by a K-12 school
Podarkeopsis falenothiras
The Children's School in La Jolla, 1st grade, room 4
Suggested by student Theodore Marx and voted on by the class
Falenothiras is the Greek translation of "whale hunter." The students said they chose this name because the worm hunts for whales.
Finalists
Vrijenhoekia:
• Vrijenhoekia kaiuli
Brian Witkin, San Marcos, age 25
“Kai uli" means "deep sea" in Hawaiian. Kaiuli Worm has a nice ring to it!
• Vrijenhoekia ahabi
Andy Fyfe, Massachusetts, age 32
"Ahabi" is a reference to Herman Melville's Captain Ahab, because both he and this species of worm will go to the ends of the earth to get a whale.
Podarkeopsis:
• Podarkeopsis teucros
Clairemont High School-ASB Classroom 115
Teucros is the name of the son of Hesione, the beautiful princess of Troy that the group Hesionidae are named after and this new worm belongs to.
• Podarkeopsis bathyzonatos
The Children's School, 1st grade, Room 3
Bathyzonatos is the Greek translation of deep-living. The students said, "It means deep in the sea. I chose it because the worm lives deep and it is cool."
Other Unique Submissions
Podarkeopsis Imapickyeaterincali
West Salem Elementary School, Wisconsin
Vrijenhoekia invertepollie
Veronica Arteaga, National City, age 32
Vrijenhoekia fuzzicawuzzicus
Chris Cott, La Jolla, age 53
Vrijenhoekia hispidafigulus
(Translated, it means "hairy" potter)
Courtney Goode, Escondido, age 29
Vrijenhoekia unicorna
Wei Ning Chee, San Diego, 30+
Vrijenhoekia colbertii
(After comedian Stephen Colbert)
Jose Cuevas, San Diego, 16
Both new species are part of the family Hesionidae, in the
phylum Annelida. The scientific team has determined that one
worm belongs to the established genus Vrijenhoekia
and another to the established genus Podarkeopsis.
The public is choosing the second part of an animals Latin
name, known as the species epithet.
Hesionids are beautiful worms that live on the bottom of the
ocean. They are named after Hesione, the mythical princess
of Troy who was rescued from a sea monster by Hercules. They
vary in size from a few millimeters to several
centimeters.
Most hesionids live in warm shallow water, with only 10
having been described from the deep sea. Until now, only one
species – Vrijenhoekia balaenophila –
has been described from whale falls (whale carcasses that
have fallen to the ocean floor). This research study has
identified six new species of deep-sea Hesionidae living on
whale falls off Monterey, California.
DNA testing has confirmed the worms are new species. In
addition to DNA, certain features or physical traits look
different from other species. Key physical traits used to
determine if Hesionids are different species include their
prostomium, or heads, and parapodia, or
“feet.” Scientists are still learning
about what they eat, how they reproduce, or even how old our
collected worms are.
Worm #1: Public contest(anyone can enter)
Vrijenhoekia (species name here)
This worm was found on "Ruby", a whale fall at 2,893 meters beneath
the surface – the deepest whale fall in this study. It looks very
similar to Vrijenhoekia balaenophila, but is much smaller and
has two obvious morphological differences: a median antenna and a smooth
proboscis (an elongated appendage from the head).
Worm #2: K-12 contest (schools/classrooms only)
Podarkeopsis (species name here)
This worm was found at 1,018 meters deep on
"Francisco", a whale fall lying in the oxygen
minimum zone of Monterey Bay. Podarkeopsis looks
very similar to other members of its genus (there are 13 in
total) but this is the first species found in the deep sea.
This animal is one-of-kind to scientists, as, to the best of
our knowledge, only one specimen has ever been collected.
After it was collected, "Francisco" (the whale
fall) degraded and was covered by sediment before scientists
could return to look for more worms.
Whale Falls
Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
(MBARI), with help from Scripps researchers, have been
studying whale falls since 2002. When whales die and fall to
the seafloor, a unique community of marine animals can form
around the carcass, providing a lot of food for the deep
sea.
Since it is extremely difficult to find a natural whale fall in the
mostly unexplored deep sea, scientists have sunk dead whales found on
California beaches to create artificial whale falls. By studying whale
falls, scientists have identified new species such as the bone-eating
Osedax worms, studied the behavior of deep sea creatures,
explored how carbon is recycled on our planet, and investigated how life
has adapted the deep sea environment. More info. Remotely Operated
Vehicles (ROVs) Whale falls and other deep-sea habitats present
a unique challenge to scientists as the cold temperature and high
pressures make traveling to the deep sea very difficult. One way that
scientists can explore the deep sea is by using a special piece of
equipment called an ROV, or a remotely operated vehicle, to record
video, take pictures, and collect organisms. The hesionid worms featured
here were collected using the ROV Tiburon and Doc Rickett’s
special suction sampler, which is a kind of "slurp gun." It
sucks animals into a plastic canister to bring them back to shore. More info.
Naming a species is the exciting culmination of a lot of
effort and collaboration, in many cases years of work.
Some of the new species being described here were first
discovered in whale falls in 2004.
International guidelines exist for how to describe and name a new
species. According to the International Code of Zoological
Nomenclature, the species must be given a Latin binomial – a name
consisting of two parts (a genus term and a species term) – and an
official description must be published in scientific literature.
Naming Guidelines
The species name or binomen is made up of two
parts, Genusname speciesname. Both are
italicized when written out. The scientific team has
determined that one worm belongs to the established genus
Vrijenhoekia and another to the established genus
Podarkeopsis. The public is now choosing the second
part, known as the species epithet. For more information
about animal classification, visit here.
A species name must be in Latin. The name may be formed from a Latin word, a Latinized word (one that has been given a Latin ending), a word in another language that uses the Latin alphabet, a word in a language using another alphabet that has been transliterated into Latin, or even a nonsense word composed from an arbitrary combination of letters.
A species name can contain no diacritical marks (accent marks, apostrophes) and must be more than one letter long.
The binomial must be unique to that species.
The species epithet must agree in gender with the genus term. No entry will be disqualified for that reason, but we encourage you to suggest names that match the gender, feminine for Vrijenhoekia, masculine for Podarkeopsis. We may have to adjust the ending of submitted names to fit with these rules. Please feel free to look over the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) for more assistance with Latin.
When naming a new species, an etymology (the meaning and origin of the name) should be provided. Please tell us what your new species name means, why you chose it, and how you composed it.
Scientists usually use geographic, descriptive, commemorative, or even nonsense words to form a new species name. Names do not need to be direct Latin translations. Take a look at some of these creative names to get you started!
Agra sasquatch (a beetle with big feet)
Apolysis humbugi (a fly from Humbug Creek, California)
Leonardo davincii (moth)
Polemistus chewbacca (wasp)
Ba humbugi (snail)
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