Two Japanese scientists discovered a new sea creature species through a study of specimens, including those collected by Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989) that were kept in storage at a museum.
Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, was a biologist.
Masanori Okanishi, a project assistant professor of biology with the University of Tokyo, and a co-researcher studied a group of brittle star species called “basket stars.”
Basket stars have a complicated structure involving five arms that repeatedly branch out, often like tree limbs. They measure 30-40 centimeters in size.
The taxonomy of basket stars, many of which live in the deep ocean, has yet to be fully studied.
The researchers compared basket star samples that had been kept in a facility in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, of the National Museum of Nature and Science with specimens stored at museums overseas=read more
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