MEET JOE BIDEN THE VAMPIRE SQUID

(The Quiver) : Researchers have named a newly discovered fossilized vampire squid after US President Joe Biden. The scientific name of the squid species is Syllipsimopodi bideni . It is described as an exceptionally well-preserved vampyropod.

An artistic reconstruction of the newly described 328-million-year-old vampyropod. (Photo: Katie Whalen)

This squid fossil was extracted from the Mississippian Bear Gulch Lagerstätte of Montana ,the squid has a gladius and ten robust arms, bearing biserial rows of suckers. It is the only known vampyropod to retain the ancestral ten-arm condition.

An exceptionally well-preserved vampyropod fossil from the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) that the new study is based on. (Photo: AMNH)

Vampyropods have soft bodies, they do not typically make good fossils. But the new study is based on an exceptionally well-preserved vampire squid-like fossil. Christopher Whalen, a postdoctoral researcher at the American Museum of Natural History and his team determined that the specimen is a completely new genus and species that is about 328 million years old . This is the oldest known vampyropod till now .

HOW IS THE FOSSIL RELATED TO US PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN ?

“The species name is to honor the recently inaugurated (at the time of paper submission) 46th President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden,” the American Museum of Natural History said in a statement.