JRR Tolkien's famous fantasy trilogy, the Lord of the Rings A new species of fish discovered in the Amazon, Myloplus sauron, has been named after the evil wizard Sauron. The 6,400-kilometre-long Amazon is home to 2,500 species of fish, and new species are constantly being discovered.
The saurfish is a relative of the herbivorous piranhas called pacu, and its special feature is that it has white, square teeth that resemble human teeth.
The fish's name comes from the fact that it has a vertical black stripe down its side, making it look like the all-seeing Eye of Sauron seen on the evil wizard's tower in Tolkien's story.
Quite a few animals bear the name of the main villain of The Lord of the Rings: the butterfly genus Saurona, the tree frog species Litoria sauroni, the dung beetle Lepanus sauroni, as well as the cicada, spider and dinosaur. Biologists may seem fixated on evil wizards, but they're more fantasy fans who like to borrow names from Tolkien's characters.
The saurfish is not the only member of the Myloplus genus to have been influenced by popular culture. Another species also has a horizontal black stripe running through its eye, so it was named Myloplus zorros after the heroic freedom fighter Zorro.
(CNN)
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