Bob Marley Species Declared

Paul Sikkel, an assist professor of marine ecology and a field marine biologist at Arkansas State University, has discovered and named a “gnathiid isopod” after legendary reggae singer BOB MARLEY. The creature isn’t exactly a peaceful creature, and is described as “a small parasitic crustacean blood feeder that infests certain fish that inhabit the coral reefs of the shallow eastern Caribbean.” The official name of the species is Gnathia marleyi.  Sikkel explains the moniker: I named this species, which is truly a natural wonder, after Marley because of my respect and admiration for Marley’s music. Plus this species is as uniquely Caribbean as was Marley.  According to the National Science Foundation, specimens of Gnathia marleyi will be housed indefinitely at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.