A tiny invertebrate, a big thank you

Special people have been immortalised in many ways. 

    Anna Pavlova and Dame Nellie Melba became namesakes for desserts.  Abel Tasman did quite well.  He had a state, a tiger, a devil and a sea named after him.  Captain James Cook didn’t do as well.  In far north Queensland, he has a highway, a town and a shire and probably a few streets, also. 

    The Greek demigod, Archille had a tendon named after him and his heel is a metaphor for a person’s weak spot. Friedrich's, Huntington's and Hansen's have become names of diseases.

    As an important personality, even an infamous murderer, you might be cast in wax.  If you are a famous actor you could have your name written on a flash, shiny tile on a footpath in Hollywood.  Mel Gibson has one of those tiles AND he has a cocktail named after him – The Bi-Polar.  The mention of Hugh Grant still provokes thoughts in many of stolen moments of ecstasy in vehicles. 

    It’s probably a good time to mention that Tony named our brand-new, 2001 Toyota Camry sedan taxi after me, Lady Cathrine. 

    None of these compare with my darling husband’s immortalisation in the world of marine science as Nuuanu titaseyi, a new species of small crustacean discovered in the Torres Strait.

    ‘Nuuanu’ is the genus, named after the area in Hawaii where the animal was first recognised.  And the ‘i’ after Titasey is Latin and indicates that the species is named after a male.

    I tried to read a scientific journal about the amphipod and all I could make out were the authors’ names and N. titaseyi which I think must be the proper way to write it. 

N. titaseyi is very small, 3.25 mm and bears a striking resemblance to a head louse.

This isn't the dinky di N. titaseyi, but it's very close, a sort of twin.

    Here is how T. Titasey became N. titaseyi.

    In October, 2006, Tony and the Madam Dugong were chartered for a week by three scientists from the Australian Museum, Jim, Maria and Lauren.  They were looking for a small crustacean that was likely to be found in areas of seaweed and coral.  Tony had to get them to those areas.  He had an idea where to go having dived many times around TI for another sort of crustacean, crayfish.

    It wasn’t often that Tony had a solid week’s charter in the Madam Dugong so he was very happy to be out on the water, day after day, moving around to get Jim, Maria and Lauren on the right dive spots.  Very little of what they spoke about in scienctific jargon  made sense as they sifted through samples, even when they said they had found something. But they were happy so Tony was happy.

    Jim, Maria and Lauren left and Tony got on with the job of running a fishing charter.

Imagine our surprise when Lauren emailed last week, six and a half years later, to advise they did, in fact, find a new species and they named it after Tony to say thank you for helping them find the critters.

    What a thank you gift!

    Tony glowed with pride when I showed him the email and image.

    ‘I’m going to get a tattoo of that,’ he said with a big grin.

    Tony has a few tatts, including some homemade jobs, one of which is the first part of his name, T.I.T, on his arm in a very prominent place.  He abandoned the last four letters due to the intense pain.  I have spent the better part of a decade trying to convince him to get a tattoo of my name.  He outrightly, emphatically, steadfastly refuses even when I challenge him to prove his love for me.

     So Tony will NOT be getting a tatt of a mocroscopic crustacean … unless I am first  immortalised on his skin!