Spanish researcher Jesús Ortea has named a new species named after Vozinha: Aldisa vozinhai. The marine mollusk, known in English as Vozinha’s sea slug, was given the name in a June paper after Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha and the team’s run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Ortea’s tribute ties a scientific description to a football moment that reached beyond Cape Verde. Vozinha, who is 40 years old, played in Cape Verde’s goalless draw against Spain and helped the team reach the round of 32 on its debut.
Jesús Ortea and Cape Verde
Ortea, a professor of animal biology and zoology at the University of Oviedo, wrote that the species is dedicated to Vozinha, goalkeeper of the Cape Verde soccer team, Spain’s first rival in the 2026 World Cup. He also said the dedication was a gesture of gratitude to the people of Cape Verde, where small things continue to achieve great significance.
The tribute fits Ortea’s own connection to Cape Verde. He said the Government of Cape Verde awarded him the Medal of Environmental Merit on June 29, 2023, in recognition of his contributions to the study of the archipelago’s marine biodiversity.
What Aldisa vozinhai is
The species is described as a small, four-millimetre-long sea slug with a red appearance. That makes the naming more than a symbolic gesture: it gives a newly identified organism a public identity tied to a specific sporting performance and to Cape Verde’s wider profile during the World Cup.
Ortea located the species in the Caribbean near Havana, Cuba and the island of Guadeloupe, but the naming points back to Cape Verde. The scientific find and the football tribute sit together in the same paper, Historias de la Bioadversidad, published in June.
Ortea’s red-algae wording
One complication remains in Ortea’s own wording. The paper and the species name identify Aldisa vozinhai as a marine mollusk and a sea slug, yet his statement refers to “Dedicating a species of red algae to the Cape Verde national football team’s goalkeeper for his performance against La Roja is a simple tribute and a gesture of gratitude to the people of Cape Verde, where small things continue to achieve great significance.”
That mismatch does not change the naming itself, but it does leave readers with a narrow scientific question about why the quote describes red algae while the paper classifies the organism as a sea slug. For now, the species stands as a named tribute to Vozinha and to Cape Verde, with the June paper carrying both the biology and the football reference in one place.
