Asking the internet to name something is always a little dicey. For every charming Boaty McBoatface submission, there’s always something a little more … unprintable. But scientists from the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance (SOSA) must have felt a little safer asking the 4.25 million followers of popular veteran science YouTuber Ze Frank to name a newly discovered species. (After all, Ze Frank already has one named after him.)
The species in question was a marine chiton, a mollusk that looks like a cross between a snail and a beetle, that feeds exclusively on sunken wood. It’s equipped with an iron-reinforced radula for eating, a series of plates on its back, and a fleshy foot. Like all members of the genus Ferreiraella, its posterior is home to worms that feed on its excrement. In other words, there was a lot for Ze Frank’s followers to work with. They submitted more than 8,000 names for SOSA scientists to choose from.
“We were overwhelmed by the response and the massive number of creative name suggestions!” SOSA co-chair Julia Sigwart said in a statement. One runner-up for the species’ new name was Ferreiraella ohmu, in honor of a Studio Ghibli creature. Another, Ferreiraella stellacadens, translates to “shooting star chiton” for the shapes of the tiny holes on the mollusk’s back.
Read more: “The Challenge of Deep-Sea Taxonomy”
So which name won?
In the end, the team decided to go with something that reflected the collaborative approach of the naming. “The name we chose, Ferreiraella populi, translates to ‘of the people,’” Sigwart said.
You can watch Ze Frank announce the winner here. 
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Lead image: © Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance
