We can finally announce the winning name!

The Bonaire banded box jellyfish is now officially named Tamoya ohboya, a name submitted by biology teacher, Lisa Peck. The authors collaborated to write the paper entitled Naming the Bonaire banded box jelly, Tamoya ohboya, n. sp. (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida: Tamoyidae) and submitted it to the scientific journal Zootaxa. It was reviewed by other scientists, revised and finally published on Jan 31st, 2011, almost two years after we launched the contest. The additional research done by the team supported the hypothesis that BBBJ was a distinct species of Tamoya that had not yet been assigned a scientific name. To read the paper and see how the science team incorporated the public contest effort into the science, visit:

http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt02753p068.pdf

Are you wondering how Lisa Peck came up with this name? Here is her explanation:

I bet "Oh Boy" is the first thing said when a biologist or layman encounters the Bonaire Banded Box Jellyfish. It is not often that a new amazing species is discovered, especially one so beautiful. I am confident that Bud Gillian exclaimed "Oh Boy" when he saw tourist Vicki Carr's video of the Bonaire Banded Box Jellyfish (a never before seen species of jellyfish). Vicki probably exclaimed "Oh Boy" when Bud called her to tell her the news of her amazing discovery. I am sure that "Oh Boy" was uttered by the 3 people who were stung by the Bonaire Banded Box Jellyfish. In addition, I bet that "Oh Boy" was spoken by the doctors when they saw the wounds inflicted by the nematocysts of the Bonaire Banded Box Jellyfish. Later, the doctors probably uttered "Oh Boy" when they were confident that these 3 people would survive their encounter with the Bonaire Banded Box Jellyfish. And finally, when I saw the website Year of Science: Species naming contest of the Bonaire Banded Box Jellyfish I loudly exclaimed "Oh Boy"!! Therefore I am suggesting the scientific name Tamoya ohboya be given to this amazing creature.

We thank the over 300 people who submitted names, the over 800 people who voted, and our other followers for participating in this scientific endeavor. Read what the winner of the contest and the science team had to say about the impact of this effort has had on them as individuals.

How has this experience impacted your view of science/how science is done?