Ancient 'Scissor Hand' Fossil Named after Actor Johnny Depp

A British scientist who discovered a 500-million-year-old fossil of an ancient extinct creature with scissor-shaped claws has named it in honor of his favorite movie star Johnny Depp.

The ancient fossil, which is a distant ancestor of lobsters and scorpions, is called as Kooteninchela Deppi. It is named after Johnny Depp for his one of his best-known roles in "Edward Scissorhands", a movie that revolves around the life of an artificial man named Edward who has scissors instead of hands.

This marine fossil is helping researchers understand about the early existence of life on Earth during the Cambrian period, which marks the emergence of all modern animals. The research was carried out by David Legg, as part of his PhD in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London.

"When I first saw the pair of isolated claws in the fossil records of this species I could not help but think of Edward Scissorhands. Even the genus name, Kootenichela, includes the reference to this film as 'chela' is Latin for claws or scissors. In truth, I am also a bit of a Depp fan and so what better way to honour the man than to immortalise him as an ancient creature that once roamed the sea?" Legg said in a press statement.

Similar to the modern coastal environment, Kooteninchela deppi existed in shallow seas off the coast of British Columbia in Canada. Around 500 million years ago, this region was situated close to the equator. Based on this, researchers have predicted that sea temperatures then were hotter when compared to the present. At that time, coral reefs had not been established yet. Kooteninchela deppi may have lived in a similar environment, consisting of sponges.

Researchers assume that the four-centimeter long kooteninchela deppi, with an elongated trunk for a body, was either a hunter or a scavenger. It also had millipede-like legs which were used to scuttle along the sea floor, along with the irregular short swim. In order to capture its prey, it used its large "Edward Scissorhands"-like claws that had elongated spines. The creature's claws may have also been used to probe the sea and hunt for sea creatures that were buried in the sediments.

It had large eyes that were made up of several lenses, like the compound eyes of a fly. They were placed on top of movable stalks known as peduncles that made it easy to hunt for food and look out for predators. Kooteninchela deppi belongs to a group called 'great appendage' arthropods, an early relation of present-day arthropods like crabs, insects and millipedes.

The research details are published in the journal Palaeontology.