TAMPA, Fla. — Retired University of South Florida Professor Sidney “Skip” Pierce has received an honor worthy of his work with sea slugs.

After decades of research on sea slugs, a new species has been named after Pierce — the scientific name being "Cyerce piercei."

Pierce spent over four decades investigating how sea slugs function. Several years ago, while collecting algae with USF students at Sunset Beach in Tarpon Springs, Pierce said they discovered the new species of sea slugs. When they brought the algae back to campus, the tiny sea slugs were there.

“I came into work one morning and my technician says, ‘Doc, what is this crawling out of there?’ And there it was. Out of pure serendipity, we found it,” Pierce said.

The sea slugs are tiny, up to 4 - 5 millimeters. Pierce said he likes that the new species now has his last name.

“You know, it’s an honor to have a person like me have a species named after them,” Pierce said. “There aren’t many biologists that, that has happened to.”

One of Pierce’s former graduate students, Michael Middlebrooks, conducted research on the new species. Middlebrooks is a biology professor at the University of Tampa.

“I’m really pleased we were able to name this after him. Just a small bit of thanks for all of his contributions,” Middlebrooks said. 

Pierce also worked with a professor from California State University in Los Angeles on the latest species of sea slugs. The California professor, Patrick Joseph Krug, spearheaded the effort to name the species after Pierce. 

It’s one of two new species of sea slugs found in Florida.

Krug and Middlebrooks co-authored work on the new species of sea slugs in the Zoological Journal. 

Pierce said his work is about much more than sea slugs. He believes the tiny creatures could hold the key to curing life-threatening diseases. But first, scientists have to collect and dig deeper to learn how sea slugs function. Right now, there are more questions than answers.

“There’s some significance to it all,” Pierce said.

And there’s significance to a name.

After 45 years of sea slug research, the Pierce name will live on in the waters of Tampa Bay.