Along Came A Spider Named Mick Fanning
Shoulda been Eugene.
In today’s bit of news that you didn’t need, but are reading anyway: A spider named Mick.
After everything he’s been in through in the last year, Mick Fanning should have a spirit animal. Not a Great White shark, of course, but maybe something like a lion or a silverback gorilla or a killer whale.
Fate, however, had other ideas. Mick’s spirit animal is officially a tiny, previously unnamed water spider. Sorry, Mick, it’s the best science—and the voting public—could do. Meet pisauridae mickfanningi.
The story goes that when a new species of spider was discovered in Queensland somebody thought it would be a good idea to have a contest to name it. So, at the recent World Science Festival in Brisbane, people were asked to pick a name. And because Brazilian’s love surfing so much, a fella by the name of Hector Manuel Osório Gonzalez Filho submitted the winning name, mickfanningi, in honour of his main man White Lightning.
“What makes this species even more special is that it has a very distinct colour pattern and quite different genitalia, which makes it quite easy to differentiate between others in the group,” explained Dr Rober Raven, a Queensland Museum arachnologist.
Sounds like maybe they should have named the spider after Eugene instead.
Comments
Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.
Already a member? Sign In
Want to join? Sign Up