Molecular systematics

Worldwide expeditions led by Bob Vrijenhoek and his colleagues have resulted in the discovery of many new species of deep-sea crabs, clams, mussels, snails, tubeworms and bacteria. Understanding the evolutionary relationships among deep-sea species and placing them in the tree-of-life has been a major goal of research efforts.

Molecular analyses conducted by Shannon Johnson identified five new species of Alviniconcha snails living at hydrothermal vents in the Indian and western Pacific Ocean. The hairy “punk-rock” snail, Alviniconcha strummeri, illustrated here was recently named in honor of The Clash’s lead singer and guitarist Joe Strummer.