{"id":39032,"date":"2024-06-14T13:10:01","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T11:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/742e721b-631d-41eb-8e4b-50f8e3a7c1cb"},"modified":"2024-06-14T13:27:28","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T11:27:28","slug":"lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Lord Sauron piranha’: scientists name new Amazon species after terrifying Lord of the Rings villain\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The newly described fish \u2013 named after Middle Earth’s powerful Lord Sauron \u2013 is vegetarian, eating mainly plants. <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Friday, 14 June 2024 at 11:10 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Scientists studying fish taxonomy in South America have taken the bold step of naming a newly described species after one of the most famous fictional villains \u2013 Lord Sauron, from J.R.R Tolkien\u2019s\u00a0The Lord of the Rings<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>

It\u2019s unlikely that the sighting of this small fish was quite as terrifying as Frodo\u2019s view of Sauron: \u201cSo terrible was it that Frodo stood rooted\u2026\u201d Nonetheless, the markings reminded the scientists of the great villain and inspired its naming, according to\u00a0a new study published in\u00a0Neotropical Ichthyology<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>

The newly described fish species was found in the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cAs soon as my colleagues suggested the name for this fish, we knew it was perfect for it,\u201d says Dr Rupert Collins, lead author of the paper and the senior curator in charge of fish at the Natural History Museum<\/a>, London. \u201cIt looks just like the Eye of Sauron, especially with the red fins and orange patches on its body.\u201d<\/p>

The newly described fish species is a close relative to the carnivorous piranha<\/a>, and both are part of the same family. However,\u00a0Myloplus sauron<\/em>\u00a0is one of a group of fishes better known as pacu. It eats mainly plants, and its teeth are more like human teeth than to the renowned piranha. It was discovered when scientists were investigating the genetics of a widely distributed species called\u00a0M. schomburgkii<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>

The new species is found only in a tributary of the Amazon River, called the Xingu River, which has a catchment area larger than France and contains over 600 species of fish. More than 70 of these are endemic. <\/p>

It\u2019s thought that 42 per cent of the fish in the Amazon River and its tributaries have not yet been described by science.<\/p>

\"Xingu
The Xingu River accounts for about 5% of water in the Amazon basin. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Another new species was also described in the paper.\u00a0M. aylan<\/em> was named for the late Aylan Moraes Andrade, who passed away prematurely last summer. Aylan was the young son of Marcelo Andrade, one of the co-authors of the paper, and Carine Moraes.\u00a0<\/p>

The news of this new species (Myloplus sauron<\/em>) comes as fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and his Middle Earth are gearing up for the\u00a0second season of\u00a0The Rings of Power<\/em><\/a>, due to be released at the end of August 2024.\u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The newly described fish \u2013 named after Middle Earth’s powerful Lord Sauron \u2013 is vegetarian, eating mainly plants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":39033,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/06\/lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain.jpg",2560,1571,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/06\/lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/06\/lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain-300x184.jpg",300,184,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/06\/lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain-768x471.jpg",768,471,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/06\/lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain-1024x628.jpg",800,491,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/06\/lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain-1536x943.jpg",1536,943,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/06\/lord-sauron-piranha-scientists-name-new-amazon-species-after-terrifying-lord-of-the-rings-villain-2048x1257.jpg",2048,1257,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The newly described fish \u2013 named after Middle Earth's powerful Lord Sauron \u2013 is vegetarian, eating mainly plants.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/39032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}