University of York's oldest academic has a new breed of snail named after him

Dr Peters, now 80, spent his later lifetime diving from far-flung coasts before embarking on his studies into the conservation of the cone snail.

It is a "great honour" to have a new species of snail named after him, he said, adding: "My children think it's very unusual.

"They tell me I've now become immortal - once I've gone they will be able to visit me at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History."

The Turritella howardpetersi species, a small gastropod mollusc, was discovered off the coast of Panama and brought to the surface by local fishermen in 2020.

It was identified as a new species by US malacologists Edward Petuch and David Berschauer, and named in recognition of Dr Peter's work to identify species at risk of extinction.

"You can't name a species after yourself, somebody else has to do it for you," said Dr Peters. "They would have liked it to be a cone snail but they didn't have any."

In an earlier time in his life, Dr Peters worked in IT. When he found himself "no longer in work, as sometimes happens", he became a fashion importer instead.

He would spend his time travelling between South America and the UK, importing Panama hats and alpaca wool for the fashion houses of London. Then Ecuador's economy collapsed.

Unsure what to do, and being a keen scuba diver, he began working to assess reefs for conservation in Fiji, working his way across the Atlantic to Honduras.

Then he wanted to know a bit more, so he came to the University of York. First came an MSc, before a PhD exploring the conservation status of the cone snail.

There was a major international conference, reviewing the Red List for all cone snail species, and he is now a member of the Mollusc Specialist Group for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, recently leading a global assessment of abalone species.

Ultimately, he said, it only makes him more determined to continue his work and highlight evidence for reducing the threat to most species of marine mollusc.

Since the pandemic he hasn't been able to dive, but is keen to get back and has set his sights on Papua's pristine reefs. There's another namesake snail, waiting for him in America.

"I was lucky," he said. "Chance is a funny thing. I found myself at 60, wondering what to do with my life. I can't say I would have been able to achieve any of this without my health.

"I don't think age comes into it very much, except by the limitations of others' expectations."