Lebbeus clarehanna is a new shrimp species that was unveiled in the latest issue of the scholarly journal Zootaxa–what makes this shrimp different than all other animals? It was named by NBA star Luc Longley. Basketball fans and Chicagoans are familiar with the Aussie native who played along side Michael Jordan and helped the Bulls [...]
Lebbeus clarehanna is a new shrimp species that was unveiled in the latest issue of the scholarly journal Zootaxa–what makes this shrimp different than all other animals? It was named by NBA star Luc Longley. Basketball fans and Chicagoans are familiar with the Aussie native who played along side Michael Jordan and helped the Bulls win three straight NBA championship. Longley purchased the naming rights of this new deep water Lebbeus Shrimp back in March… through eBay.
His $2,900 eBay bid won him the rights to name a deepwater shrimp of the Lebbeus genus,which was discovered in 2005 by Anna McCallum. McCallum, who is now pursuing her PhD at the University of Melbourne and published the species description in Zootaxa, thought that auctioning the name off would be a great way to raise money for marine conservation. All proceeds from the charity auction went to the Australian Marine Conservation society who will use the funds to help protect Australia’s south-west oceans.
The 7′2″ Longley named the species after his daughter Clare Hanna who turned 15 this past August. Hats off to Australia’s Bill Walton Luc for his donation and to Anna, who recently described another new species, Lebbeus cristagalli.
