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New Species Discovered in Florida Named for Jimmy Buffett

August 3rd, 2023


A new species of crustacean discovered in the Florida Keys has been named Gnathia Jimmybuffetti, after Jimmy Buffett:

An international team of scientists from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Water Research Group from the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at the North-West University in South Africa have discovered a new species of marine cryptofauna in the Florida Keys. Cryptofauna are the tiny, hidden, organisms that make up the majority of biodiversity in the ocean.

The roughly three-millimeter-long isopod is one of only 15 species from the genus Gnathia currently known in the region.

The newly discovered species, Gnathia jimmybuffetti, which is a member of a group of crustaceans called gnathiid isopods, were collected using light traps set in shallow water and characterized using photomicrographs and genetic sequencing.

“Upon examination, it was determined to be a species that was previously unknown to science,” said senior investigator Paul Sikkel, a research professor in the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology at the Rosenstiel School. “It’s the first new Florida gnathiid to be discovered in 100 years.”

These tiny animals, which are found throughout the world’s oceans lead a very curious life. The juveniles are most active at night and feed on the blood of fishes like a mosquito or tick. The adults do not feed and live hidden in rubble on the ocean floor. Given their lifestyle, they are grouped as parasites, organisms that require a living host for survival.

The current severe marine heat wave events in Florida and other regions of the world that host coral reefs is a big concern for species like Gnathia jimmybuffetti, who cannot simply swim to cooler water. Work by Sikkel’s team on other gnathiid species has shown that at above average seawater temperatures, mortality rates increase, and abundance of gnathiids on reefs decrease significantly. To the extent these effects are likely to be similar for the myriad of other small invertebrates that live in or near the benthos (bottom), this can have major impacts on coral reef food webs.

Since the species was discovered in the Florida Keys and Sikkel and his team are long-time fans of Jimmy Buffett’s music—which is synonymous with the Florida Keys—they named the new species: Gnathia jimmybuffetti after the music legend.

Read more at the University of Miami’s website.


Tagged in In The News

Article on Buffett’s Origins in Outlaw Country

July 17th, 2022


Jim Allen at uDiscover Music has a good article on Jimmy Buffett’s origins in Outlaw Country: Before Margaritaville: Jimmy Buffett’s Outlaw Country Underground Years

Before becoming the godfather of yacht rock, Jimmy Buffett released seven mostly unnoticed albums where he came off like a cross between an outlaw country rebel and a character from a late 60s underground comic book, with songs criticizing materialism, religious hypocrisy, and jingoistic politics, and extolling the glories of getting high, having as much sex as possible, and being a thorn in the side of the law. How did Buffet go from fabulous furry freak brother to laid-back pope of the Parrotheads?

Long before “Margaritaville” led to legions of Hawaiian-shirted followers embracing him as their guru, Buffett was a hirsute hippie troubadour struggling to make a name for himself in Nashville. He hit Music City at the right time. A couple of years earlier, a countercultural type like him would’ve been run out of town. But revolution was on the rise, and scruffy songpoets like Kris Kristofferson were bringing folk and rock influences and a new kind of attitude to country music.

Read the full article at uDiscover Music.


Tagged in In The News

Buffett to Participate in Alabama Voter Registration Campaign

September 29th, 2021


Jimmy Buffett will join Riley Green in the state of Alabama’s annual campaign to promote voter registration:

From the AL Political Reporter:

Every year, the Secretary of State’s Office conducts a statewide multimedia campaign to promote voter registration, ensure citizens have a photo ID, and encourage voter participation. Today, in honor of National Voter Registration Day, we are excited to announce the participation of two well-known Alabamians.

Legendary singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett and country music sensation Riley Green are featured in this year’s media blitz. Advertisements will start running in early October and continue through Thanksgiving. Every year, the selected spokespersons are individuals who are well-known to the people of our state and are committed to good government.

The campaign consists of statewide television and radio ads, as well as digital advertisements, and through our partnerships with colleges and universities throughout the state. Throughout all 67 counties, posters will also be distributed to courthouses, schools, universities, civic clubs, political rallies, and events.


Tagged in Charitable Causes, In The News

Shark Named by Jimmy is Being Tracked off Jersey Shore

August 23rd, 2017


On August 14th, Jimmy Buffett boarded an Ocearch.org research vessel off the coast of Montauk, NY where he watched the efforts to tag and track great white sharks. The researchers let Jimmy name one of the tagged sharks, which he dubbed “JD” after his father James Delaney.

JD was spotted this week off the Jersey shore, about 178 miles from where it was tagged.

JD, a tagged 75-pound juvenile male white shark that was named by singer Jimmy Buffett — who was on the vessel when the shark was tagged — was only yards from the Barnegat Light beaches Wednesday morning, according to the shark’s satellite tag.

The 5-foot 4-inch long shark was tagged by OCEARCH researchers on Aug. 14 after it was captured off the coast of Montauk, N.Y. during the group’s monthlong Empire State and Garden State expedition to search for great white sharks.

The shark traveled 178 miles from its capture site to Barnegat Light since being tagged.

Chris Fischer, OCEARCH’s founder and expedition leader, explained why the “Margaritaville” singer was on board the vessel at the time JD was tagged.

“Jimmy has been a real big supporter of OCEARCH,” said Fischer. “He named the shark after his dad, James Delaney.”

OCEARCH is researching the life-cycle of white sharks, an apex ocean predator. The sharks are known scientifically as Carcharodon carcharias and can grow up to 21 feet in length and weigh over 4,000 pounds.

Fischer estimates JD, which can be seen being tagged in the video above, is one year old and is feeding on small prey fish such as mackerel, menhaden and squid.

A second juvenile male white shark named Bruin also “pinged” off the coast of New Jersey Wednesday, but about 100 miles east of the coastline near the continental shelf.

A ping is when the shark’s dorsal fin, where the tag is placed, appears above the surface for more than 90 seconds, which enables the tag to be picked up by satellite.

Read more at app.com


Tagged in In The News, Personal/Family

US Appeals Court Cites Buffett Song in Case

January 10th, 2017


Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville” is not only known around the world as a song and a brand, it’s now being used in federal court!

A Virginia man who wants to open a tattoo parlor in Key West can thank Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville” for helping him with his latest court case.

City officials twice referenced the song in opposition to Brad Buehrle’s proposal for a new tattoo shop, saying drunken tourists would be more likely to get tattoos and then regret it if more ink shops were open in Key West’s historic district.

But the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said the city misunderstood the song lyrics in which the narrator reflects on a brand new tattoo – but how the “Mexican cutie” got there, “I haven’t a clue.”

The judges wrote in a footnote to their ruling that the character in the song deems his new tattoo “a real beauty” and seems far from embarrassed about it.

The appeals court ruled last week that the city failed to show that more tattoo shops would erode the historic district’s “character and fabric,” The Key West Citizen reported.

According to the ruling, the city feared that “rash tourists will obtain regrettable tattoos, leading to negative association with Key West.”

Tattoo parlors were banned within Key West city limits until 2007, when the city amended zoning rules to allow a limited number of them.

Currently, two tattoo shops operate there and “the city concedes the absence of any ill effect as a result” of them, according to the ruling.

Read the full article.


Tagged in In The News, Politics