New Species Of Freshwater Lobster Named After Whistleblower Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden has been honoured by a German scientist, Christian Lukhaup, who has named a new crayfish species after the "American freedom fighter" because "what he did is something very special."

It is doubtful whether the crayfish feels at all honoured, or even bothered, as it lives in the tributary creeks flowing into the Oinsok River in Kepala Burung Peninsula, Indonesia. The very surprised crayfish species is now called Cherax snowden.

The locals wouldn't be likely to know much about it either, and wouldn't bother if they did, as they prefer to call it "orange tip" or "green orange tip" due to the color of its pincers. Asia and European buyers like its ornamental appearance.

"After describing a couple new species, I thought about naming one after Edward Snowden because he really impressed me," Lukhaup told The Washington Post.

"We have so many species named after other famous people who probably don't do so much for humanity. I wanted to show support for Edward Snowden. I think what he did is something very special."

"The name is used as a noun in apposition," he wrote, according to hngn.

What makes the fishy Mister stand out is the "shape of its rostrum, body and chelae, or pincers. Its coloration pattern also makes it stand out from other crayfish."

As Snowden has leaked out a lot of NSA surveillance data to the media, he looks very fishy to the US, but the Germans support him strongly. He has been living there since 2013, and in June, a Dresden square was named after him, according to The Washington Post.

"A crayfish is a powerful species; it's protected by a very hard shell, plus it has two very effective chelae, the pincers, and even if they are tiny, [they] can hurt a lot," Lukhaup said.

However, like its namesake, the C.snowden is a threatened species due to pollution.

The study of Lukhaup and his co-authors about C. snowden is published in the Aug. 24 issue of the journal Zookeys.