Animals Named After Food

10 MAY 2024

Credit: Google Images

Credit: Google Images

Chocolate Chip Sea Star

It is easy to understand why this species of Indo-Pacific sea star was given its name; with its sometimes tan hue and chocolate-brown lumps, one could easily mistake it for an exceptionally intricate cookie. 

Credit: Google Images

Fried Egg Jellyfish

This animal's name requires little to no explanation as well. It resembles a fried egg exactly, except with tentacles! Although it loves cold waters, this strange-looking organism may be found in many oceans across the world. 

Credit: Google Images

Pineapple fish

This fortunate fish has four amusing, evocative names. Because of its unique overlapping scales that resemble armour, it is often referred to as the coat-of-mail fish or the knightfish. It is also called the port-and-starboard light fish because of the two biolumicent organs that are located near the corners of its mouth. 

Credit: Google Images

Honey badger

While the first three names on this list came from their likeness to food, additional names come from their diet. The honey badger is one animal that does this; it breaks into beehives in search of honey and larvae to consume. This hardy animal, known for its rough exterior, is not actually a badger.

Credit: Google Images

Banana slug 

What's this on the forest floor? A soft, neglected banana? No, that's not a banana slug! There are five distinct species of these vividly coloured gastropods, with the Pacific banana slug being the biggest at 25 cm, or around 1.5 bananas, the second largest terrestrial slug in the world. 

Credit: Google Images

Tomato frog

The tomato frog's brightness serves as a warning and a signal. Aposematism is the term for this distinctive colouring that serves to signal to predators, "I am bad to eat." When a predator catches a tomato frog, it will swell up and release a poison that will numb the predator's lips and eyes, forcing it to release the frog.

Credit: Google Images

Lemon Shark

The lemon shark is another species whose coloration has given it a cuisine name. Because of its yellow-brown colour, it can swim across sand-covered sea bottoms without being observed, surprising its victim. The reason they are the most studied sharks is that they usually do well in captivity. 

Credit: Google Images

Strawberry finch

It's simple to understand how this bird received its name derived from food, with its brilliant red plumage sprinkled with white patches that resemble seeds. It is distributed across tropical South and South East Asia and is also referred to as the red avadavat. 

Credit: Google Images

Coconut crab

The largest land crustacean (and actually the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world) is this intriguing and, to be honest, frightening crab. They got their name from their amazing skill of picking up a coconut from the ground, climbing it up a tree, and dropping it to split open and reveal the flesh within. They are also known for their ability to open coconuts for eating.

Credit: Google Images

Sea cucumber

Sea cucumbers are a class of organisms, not a single species, with around 1,717 species known to exist. They're in the same family as sea urchins and starfish, or echinoderms. They reside on sea floors, feeding on plankton and decomposing organic waste. They are frequently observed appearing like an inert vegetable dumped on the beach.