Say Hello to Advhena Magnifica
One of the best things about the E.T. sponge is that its scientific name, advhena magnifica, literally captures what the scientists thought when they first saw it. Advhena magnifica means “magnificent alien” in Latin. Castello Branco affirms that scientific names for new animals are always Latin or Greek, and that scientists usually try to associate the name to something unique about the species. They can also choose names to honor someone, the name of the expedition, or the name of a locality.
“Advhena is from the Latin advena, which means alien, but in the sense of visitor, foreigner, or immigrant, although we (humans) were the actual visitors to the sponge’s deep-sea home when we found this ‘magnificent alien,’” Castello Branco told NOAA.
You can read more about Castello Branco’s discovery of the E.T. sponge in the paper she and her colleagues published in 2020 here.
