A new crab species found in the coral reefs near the island of Guam has been named after the boy who lived... and his grumpy potions master.
Biologists have named the crab after Harry Potter and Severus Snape from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. The name is also a tribute to the ex-Marine turned researcher Harry Conley who first discovered the crabs 20 years ago.
The "Harryplax severus"is a tiny crab measures just 0.3 by 0.2 inches (7.9 by 5.6 millimeters) and is described as having a translucent white-yellow creature and shrunken, eyes.
The Harryplax genus name pays respect to both the fictional character Harry Potter and the real-life marine collector Harry Conley who "substantially advanced the cause of marine science," according to the biologists Jose Mendoza and Peter Ng from National University of Singapore. They describe the crab in their new ZooKeys study published January 23.
The severus species name honors Professor Severus Snape. The Hogwarts potions master kept "one of the most important secrets in the story, just like the present new species which has eluded discovery until now, nearly 20 years after it was first collected," Mendoza and Ng stated.
The crab can be found living in dead coral fragments along the coasts of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. Sadly it doesn't wear glasses or carry a tiny wand, but it does look like a little crab Patronus.
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