You always have to smile when a new
species is discovered. It just doesn’t happen that often…or at least it’s not publicized that often. I
mean, remember the early Victorian days when new species were being found, like, every day. And the folks that
discovered them were usually amateur naturalists…just rich guys who liked to spend time outdoors with a notebook. I
miss those days. Now, you gotta go to school for 25 years before you can find and name a new species.
So
this new creature looks rather cool, kind of like a hippie crab. And the fact is, it is unusual to find such a
creature. Sure, they discover new kinds of bacteria or bugs; but not big animals, and especially not big weird ones
like this furry lobster that was recently discovered by a French research team in waters some 7,500 feet deep near
Easter Island.
The team from the French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea (IFREMER), after
much deliberation, decided to call the crustacean Kiwa hirsuta. Kiwa
comes from the name of the goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology, and hirsuata after the Latin world for "hairy."
So the
lobster is called "Hairy Goddess", which, coincidentally, was Salma Hayek’s high school nickname.