A newly-described species of cobitid loach discovered in Thailand and Vietnam has been named Lepidocephalichthys zeppelini in honour of the rock band Led Zeppelin.
Auburn University graduate student Justin Havird gave the otherwise small, brown and nondescript loach species its memorable name after noticing the male fishes' distinctive extended pectoral fin rays which reminded him of the double-necked Gibson EDS-1275 guitar used by Jimmy Page, lead guitarist of the rock giants.
Havird said: "I'm a big Led Zeppelin fan, and I was listening to them while I was working on the fish. The structure that makes this species unique just reminded me of the guitar that Jimmy Page played."
More rock-inspired names
This is not the first musically-inspired fish name, however. A species of mudskipper goby from New Guinea was named as Zappa confluentus after Frank Zappa, (who also has a jellyfish, an extinct mollusc and a spider named after him!), while Freddy Mercury has a species of reef-dwelling isopod, Cirolana mercuryi named in his honour.