Not too often we get to get some celebrity news on Reef Builders but with the big news with the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes split taking up the news today, we figured we’d shift the focus to someone cooler. We lead off with comedian and “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan making a trip to the Long Island Aquarium to dive in the shark exhibit and take a bit of time to mug for the camera with our friend Joe Yaiullo and his sons (pictured above). Morgan donated a nurse shark he had that outgrew his aquarium last year and had this great opportunity to dive in the 120,000-gallon Lost City of Atlantis Shark Exhibit. Seems Mr. Morgan, a bit of a fish geek himself, was a class act taking the time to talk acting with the Yaiullo youngsters. Rumor has it he may be on an upcoming issue of “Tanked.”
[Image via Joe Yaiullo]
A satellite studying Saturn’s moon Titan, has discovered tidal fluctuations in the moon’s surface hinting at the possibility of a global ocean hides under its crust. The report by Cassini spacecraft scientists. Gravity measurements made in six flybys of the moon by the international Cassini spacecraft show its 16-day orbit of Saturn is marked by stretching and deformation of its crust. Now that is one icy ocean and we’re wondering if it ever sustained any lifeforms.
[via USA Today]
Sharks may have more genetic diversity than we originally thought. A recent study of thousands of sharks and rays has uncovered the possibility of a plethora of new potential species. But don’t think it is all great news as the research also raises the possibility that some species are even more endangered than previously thought. Gavin Naylor, a biologist at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and his colleagues sequenced samples from 4,283 specimens of sharks and rays as part of a major effort to fill the gaps. The team found 574 species, of which 79 are potentially new, they report in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.
[via Nature]
Finally, our super celebrity edition of the Friday Smorgasbord ends with the Kardashians. According to an interesting infographic from Media Matters (thanks for the share Matt Pedersen!), an important issue like the acidification of the oceans is getting a minuscule amount of media exposure in the mainstream outlets compared to all things Kardashian. According to the report, media exposure for Kim and family was 40 times greater than the topic of ocean acidification. We get it, KK and crew are the bright, shiny object that gets all the attention but ocean chemistry is an important issue.
[via Media Matters]
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