Johnny Depp has won the dubious honour of having a fossil named after him.

The 505-million-year-old fossil was given the moniker Kooteninchela deppi.

According to the Irish Times - the paleaontologist who named the fossil is a fan - and said the claws on the scavenger reminded him of Edward Scissorhands.

Favourite actor

David Legg, from Imperial College London, who carried out the research as part of his PhD in Earth Science and Engineering, admits Depp is his favourite actor.

He found the Kooteninchela deppi when trawling through fossil records - it's a distant ancestor of lobsters and scorpions. Researchers say it's helping them piece together more information about life on Earth during the Cambrian period, when nearly all modern animal types emerged.

Legg says, "When I first saw the pair of isolated claws in the fossil records of this species I could not help but think of Edward Scissorhands. Even the genus name, Kootenichela, includes the reference to this film as 'chela' is Latin for claws or scissors. In truth, I am also a bit of a Depp fan and so what better way to honour lthe man than to immortalise him as an ancient creature that once roamed the sea?"

Kooteninchela deppi lived in very shallow seas, similar to modern coastal environments, off the cost of British Columbia in Canada, which was situated much closer to the equator 500 million years ago.  The sea temperature would have been much hotter than it is today and although coral reefs had not yet been established, Kooteninchela deppi would have lived in a similar environment consisting of sponges. And it's likely that the Kooteninchela deppi was a hunter or a scavenger.