K-pop Meets Science - Chinese researchers name fish species after Blackpink's Jennie

Science does not usually have much to do with K-pop. But a postgraduate student in southern China has found a way to bring the two together, and the result is now permanently written into the scientific record.

Tian Jiangyan, a master's student at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, found a tiny, previously undiscovered fish species during fieldwork in the mangrove wetlands near the Pearl River estuary in April 2025. When it came to naming her discovery, she did not look to a famous scientist or a geographical landmark. Instead, she named it after Jennie Ruby Jane, the South Korean K-pop star and member of Blackpink because, as she put it, listening to Jennie's songs had been a constant source of inspiration throughout her studies.

"Listening to the songs of Jennie Ruby Jane during my studies was a constant source of inspiration. Naming this species after her is my way of acknowledging the positive influence she had on my work," Tian wrote in her research paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.

A tiny but significant find

The fish itself is a charming little creature. Officially named Brachygobius jennie, or Jennie's Bumblebee Goby, it is a tiny black-and-yellow fish shorter than an average human fingernail. It measures just nine millimetres in length and sports bold black and yellow stripes that give it a striking appearance despite its miniature size.

When Tian first spotted the fish during her fieldwork, she thought she had simply stumbled across juvenile fish of a known species. However, something was not quite right: the markings did not match anything already on record. Back in the laboratory, genetic testing confirmed it. This was an entirely newly discovered species, never before documented by science.

Brachygobius jennie is the first bumblebee goby ever found in China, and researchers say it could provide a useful model for studying the biological limits of how small a vertebrate can become. That is a genuinely interesting scientific question, and a fish smaller than a fingernail with a fully functioning skeleton is a remarkable subject of study.

Global star with a scientific namesake

For those unfamiliar with Jennie, she is one of the four members of Blackpink, the South Korean girl group that became one of the most globally successful K-pop acts in history. Jennie has since launched a solo career and has performed as a headliner at some of the world's biggest music festivals, including Governors Ball in New York, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Mad Cool in Madrid and Lollapalooza in Chicago, where she is set to become the first female K-pop soloist to headline the festival.

She has hundreds of millions of followers across social media, global brand partnerships and a fanbase, known as Blinks, that is famously devoted.

Those fans reacted to the news of the fish with predictable enthusiasm. Social media posts about the discovery spread rapidly, with Blinks describing it as proof of Jennie's influence extending from music and fashion all the way into science. One fan summed it up by saying that when your influence reaches science and a newly discovered species is named after you, your impact is undeniable.

An unusual scientific tradition

In the scientific world, naming a species after someone who inspired the researcher is a well-established tradition, although it more commonly honours fellow scientists, historical figures or benefactors than K-pop stars.

That makes Tian's choice all the more unusual and, depending on your perspective, all the more charming. Science can be a long, solitary and often unglamorous process. If a playlist helped one researcher through it, and a tiny black-and-yellow fish now carries the name of the artist responsible, that seems like a perfectly reasonable outcome.

Jennie has not yet publicly commented on her new aquatic namesake. Somewhere in a mangrove wetland near the Pearl River, a fish smaller than a human fingernail is quietly going about its life, officially and permanently bearing her name.

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