New Catfish Species Named After Greedo
Posted on February 12, 2015
Researchers from the University of Auburn recently named three new species of catfish. The species are all members of Peckoltia, a genus of armored suckermouth catfishes in South America. The three species were found in Brazil and Venezuela. One of them is named after Greedo, a bounty hunter in Star Wars.
Peckoltia ephippiata and Peckoltia greedoi were discovered in Brazil and Peckoltia lujani was discovered in Venezuela. The researchers say the three species show little overlap with one another.
Peckoltia greedoi is the species named after Greedo from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The researchers say the catfish "shares a remarkable resemblance" to the bounty hunter killed by Han Solo in Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina. Some of the features of Peckoltia greedoi include moderately sized eyes and lips "covered with short, wide papillae."
Nerdist says the catfish has a face that is "just begging for a blaster bolt." Living Alongside Wildlife has a list of several other species named after Star Wars characters. These include Yoda purpurata, a deep sea acorn worm named after Yoda.
A research paper on the three new catfish species is published here in the journal ZooKeys.