The Ocean Have Had a Fossil Named After Them

The Ocean’s new album, Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic, comes out this Friday (September 25), and the band have been treated to a little pre-release honor: they’ve had a fossil named after them.

The band made the announcement via Facebook, where they also included a video of the fossil featuring some new music:

“‘Ophiacantha oceani’, a new brittle star fossil discovered by palaeontologists Dr. Lea Numberger and Dr. Ben Thuy at the Natural History Museum of Luxembourg was named after Berlin progressive metal band The Ocean to celebrate their palaeontology-inspired music.

“‘Musicians who so skillfully combine arts and science, composing albums like Precambrian (with songs named after the periods of the Precambrian), Pelagial (with songs named after the bathymetric subdivisions of the water column) and Phanerozoic as well as the song ‘Turritopsis dohrnii’ referring to the immortal jellyfish from the Mediterranean, are more than deserving of being immortalized in the fossil record,’ comments Dr. Ben THUY, Natural History Museum LuxembourgPalaeontology – Research & Collections Curator.

“The abstract states that ‘Identifiable remains of large deep-sea invertebrates are exceedingly rare in the fossil record. Thus, every new discovery adds to a better understanding of ancient deep-sea environments based on direct fossil evidence.’

“The fossil was discovered in 2.6-million-year-old deep-sea sediments of the Mediterranean but its closest living relative is from the Caribbean. Was it the victim of a yet undetected deep-sea extinction event?Access the original publication in scientific journal Zootaxa: https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4820.1.2

“Also there’s a some NEW MUSIC in this video Get ready for Friday!”

You can check out the video below, and pre-order Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic here.

[via The PRP]