New shrimp’s name auctioned on eBay
Wildlife lovers with several thousand dollars in spare cash can now hope to buy zoological immortality by bidding to have a new species of shrimp named after themselves in an eBay auction.
The five centimetre-long spotted shrimp was discovered deep underwater off the southwestern coast of Australia last April by University of Melbourne PhD student Anna McCallum.
New species are usually named by the scientist that finds them but McCallum decided to auction that right to raise money for the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
Anyone interested in naming the shrimp has until 9am AEDST on 1 April (11pm GMT) to place their bid, via eBay or Facebook. By Saturday 28 March at 7pm GMT the asking price had topped $2,100.
AMCS describes the shrimp as a “mysterious little creature” which morphs from yellow to green and is covered in scarlet spots. A toothed crest across the top of its body also gives it the appearance of having a mohawk.
“Who wouldn’t love this spotty little bugger?” said AMCS patron Tim Winton. “Who wouldn’t want their name on it, and what kind of Australian could resist shelling out for the privilege of naming a crustacean? It’ll be a stampede, so get your bid in early and go hard.”
The winning bidder will not have complete freedom when it comes to naming the shrimp. In accordance with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the name chosen will consist of two parts, the first half being the name of the genus; in this case Lebbeus. The second half of the name, chosen by the bidder, will also be converted into Latin.