The Irish singer Enya has had the rarefied honour of receive a new living specie named after her . And yes , it does live in the Orinoco river .
To non - South Americans , the Orinoco may only be conversant because of the lazy member of the Wombles and Enya ’s massive breakout collide with “ Orinoco Flow ” . It is , however , one of the sincerely large rivers of the world – fourth great by volume of dismissal – and innkeeper to stunning biological grandness . Yet it was only in 1951 that the source of the 2,100 - kilometer - long ( 1,300 mile ) river was identified . Consequently , there is still plenty for us to learn about this might body of water supply and its ecosystem .
A team at Oregon State University are working to cover this , comparing fish species captured in the Orinoco with those from Guyana ’s Essequibo River and tributary of the Amazon . ineluctably , one of the graduate student , Ben Frable , had Orinoco Flow on high rotation in the lab while they were working .
“ I heard the song so often in the research laboratory it got stuck in my head , ” co - authorMarcus Chatfieldsaid in astatement . “ Then I just started listening to it on purpose when I was taking measurements of the specimens . When the time came around for choose names , it just felt right-hand to name this new beautiful fish from the Orinoco after the artist who write that beautiful song . ”
The Pisces in question is 20 - 25 centimeters ( 8 - 10 inches ) long , and has been reported inNeotropical Ichthyologyunder the nameLeporinus enyae .
The squad discovered a second member of the extremely diverse Leporinus genus in the Xingu River , a confluent of the Amazon . They named itLeporinus villasboasorum , after the brothers Cláudio and Leonardo Villas - Bôas , who worked to protect the Xingu catchment and the right of autochthonous the great unwashed who be there .
Both species are discern from other Leporinus Pisces by bottom teeth that are peculiarly long , even in a genus named for its cony - like dentition . These are think to be used to forage for plant and invertebrates on the river bottom . The newly find out pair need to be differentiated from the superficially similar speciesLeporinus desmotesandLeporinus jatuncochi , which live in other tropical South American river , and the newspaper publisher attempts to map out the complex class relationships .
The investigator revere the newly built Belo Monte Dam , the fourth large in the Earth , will threatenL. villasboasorum , since much of the Pisces ’s habitat has been turned from a loose - flowing river into a giant man-made lake .
No news has been received on what the reclusive vocaliser thinks of the new fish ’s moniker .
