Palaeontologists have named three 190-million-year-old fossils after Gojira in tribute to the band's legacy of writing "songs of an unfathomable intensity".
The fossils take the form of brittle stars and were discovered in France, Luxembourg and Austria on what was once the Jurassic Tethys Ocean bed. The scientists behind the discovery, and naming the fossils, were Lea Numberger and Ben Thuy from Luxembourg's Natural History Museum and biologist Tania Pineda from the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Christened after each of the French metal group's members, the brittle stars have been identified as two different species, Ophiogojira labadiei and Ophiogojira andreui, which honour both Gojira’s Jean-Michel Labadie and Christian Andreu. The third fossil was named after Joe and Mario Duplantier, and was dubbed Ophioduplantiera noctiluca.
According to the Royal Society, the fossils were named in honour of Gojira due to the band's affinity "for producing songs of an unfathomable intensity, beautifully dark and heavy, and exploring the abyss of life and death, of human strength and error, and of thriving and yet threatened oceans.”
Clearly thrilled by the tribute, Gojira took to social media to thank the scientists, declaring on Twitter that they will now be connected with Earth's history "for eternity". On Instagram, they also added they were a "small step closer to immortality.”
Other bands to have had fossils christened in their name are Between The Buried And Me, The Ocean, Dire Straits, Bad Religion, AC/DC and more.
New brittle star fossils named after Gojira: Ophiogojira labadiei, Ophiogojira andreui and Ophioduplantiera noctiluca, discovered by scientists from @naturmusee and @FloridaMuseum, connecting Gojira with Earth history for eternity. pic.twitter.com/0VVfAG5raySeptember 13, 2021
