Magical Crab is Named in Honor of Two Harry Potter Characters

A brand new crab discovered decades ago in the Pacific Ocean is now named after two of the bravest wizards in the Harry Potter universe.

The Harry Potter series is no stranger to fantastic beasts. In fact, we’re set to see four more movies centered around that very fact. But sometimes the magic bleeds into our real Muggle life. Biologists in Singapore have named a new kind of crab after two of the bravest wizards known to mankind.

Meet the Harryplax severus. This tiny, beady-eyed crab lives nestled in deep rubble beds all along the coast of Guam. This little guy is rarely seen. According to National Geographic, it spends a lot of time huddled in the shadows, giving it its pale yellow shade from lack of sunlight.

It was actually discovered back in 1998, thanks to a ‘hero collector’ named Harry Conley. Sadly, Conley was killed back in 2002. BUt his work didn’t reach the hands of biologists at the National University of Singapore until nearly 20 years later.

Jose Mendoza, a self-described Potterhead, wanted to honor both Conley and Harry Potter when naming the crab. That worked out perfectly since both of them share the same first name! For the second part of the name, Mendoza wanted to honor Severus Snape, the man who kept Dumbledor’s greatest secret, which drove the entire story forward. He likens that to Conley’s discovery, saying Snape’s story is, “just like the present new species which has eluded discovery until now, nearly 20 years after it was first collected.”

Related Story: A Spider That Just May Be the Sorting Hat

To read a full analysis of the Harryplax severus, check it out on ZooKeys. But this crab isn’t the only animal to receive a magical name. Last month, a new spider species in India was also named after Harry Potter. Check out our coverage of the Eriovixia Gryffindori!