IN 2012 A BRYOZOAN WAS NAMED AFTER DAVID BOWIE

Discovered in Brazil, from the southern, northeastern, and southeastern coasts Bugula bowiei has been named after rock star David Bowien

The name was given by the researcher Karin Fehlauer-Ale in honor of his favorite artist, David Bowie, the year that the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972) turned 40. The species has spines that break easily

Bugula is a genus of common colonial arborescent marine bryozoans, often mistaken for seaweed. It commonly grows upright in bushy colonies of up to 15 cm in height, represented by both endemic and cosmopolitan species distributed in tropical and temperate waters and important to marine biologists because of the occurrence of many species in harbor and fouling communities, therefore as potential invaders 

The southeastern Brazilian coast in the southern Atlantic hosts the highest known diversity of the genus, a status intimately associated with the intensity of collecting efforts.

Vieira et al. 2012  Nine New Species of Bugula Oken (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata) in Brazilian Shallow Waters. PloS ONE