What is armored, covered in worms, and has a protruding tongue? If you say things in dreams, you are not wrong. Luckily, though, the critter in question was small — and now famous.

meet Ferreiraella is a population speciesa kindness strange new species of deep-sea mollusk. It is a type of herbivorous mollusc called a chiton and sports an iron-covered radula (the aforementioned protruding tongue), eight armored shell plates, and dung-eating worms near its tail. It received its first official scientific description on Friday, in a Biodiversity Data Journal study.

The famous critter of social media

The “general body plan of the chiton is very good at attaching things. And for many chitons, that means rocks,” explains Ze Frank, a science YouTuber of a video. “Those plates give them some protection, but because they’re separate, they’re bendy-bendy. So, they can mold themselves into uneven surfaces as they use their radula to scrape and eat algae.”

It was discovered by researchers 18,045 feet (5,500 meters) underwater in Japan’s Izu-Ogasawara Trench in 2024. It joins a pre-established genus (Ferreiraella) of strange and snobbish mollusks—they live in trees that have drifted into the deep sea. In fact, their identification reinforces the idea that these environments are home to mysterious, highly specialized groups of animals.

Frank participated in the naming of this amazing little guy by asking viewers to send ideas for a specific epithet (the second part of the name) Ferreiraella (the genus), as well as explanations for the proposal. He and a team of scientists received more than 8,000 submissions on social media in one week. In a follow-up videoFrank highlighted an amazing one that, in my humble opinion, should have been the first place winner: Ferreiraella ellaellaeheheh. (If I have to explain that reference, go listen to some Rihanna and be ashamed of yourself).

To the people

The first individual or group to publish a scientific description of a new species must choose its name while respecting certain rules. Often, specific epithets are inspired by places, people, physical characteristics, or mythology.

Julia Sigwart, a co-author of the study from the Senckenberg Research Institute & Museum, finally chose Ferreiraella is a population specieswith “populi” meaning “of the people” in Latin. Although that’s boring for a funky creature, 11 people separately submitted “populi.” Other contenders include Ferreiraella ohmu, in honor of the chiton-like animal in a Studio Ghibli movie, and in recognition of the discovery of the mollusk in Japan.

“It usually takes ten, if not twenty years, for a new species to be studied, scientifically described, named, and published,” Sigwart told a Pensoft Publisher. statement. In fact, many species became extinct before being discovered. Marine invertebrates in particular face this issue. “Ferreiraella is a population species It has now been described and given a scientific name just two years after its discovery. This is important for the conservation of marine biodiversity, especially in light of the threats it faces such as deep-sea mining!”

The strange new critter sheds light on the strange life that lives in an extreme environment that we are just beginning to understand.