Hey! It’s Friday and that means another fresh edition of the Friday Smorgasbord fresh out of the oven. This week we have a few good nuggets including an audio post, whales and coral atolls. Let’s get the party started right with this audio nugget by one of our favorite bands Incognito Sofa Love, fronted by Justin Credible, with their song about the Tracy Morgonian gorgonian. This fun and funky tune has notes of Frank Zappa, Camper Van Beethoven and They Might Be Giants along with a little bit of funk and soul to liven it up. Make sure you take a listen here, we’re sure this will be stuck in your head all weekend.
Gray whales are native to the North Pacific and had once lived in the North Atlantic until they were hunted to extinction. However, new reports have not only put a gray whale in the North Atlantic but in the Southern Hemisphere as well. It was surprising enough when one gray whale was spotted near Israel in 2010 and a few months later, near Spain. Now this month a gray was spotted near Namibia’s Walvis Bay making it the first time this whale has been seens outh of the equator. The big question now is, where did this whale come from?
[via Discovery]
Charles Darwin’s controversial theories have been put to the test over the years, most of them eventually having substantial scientific research to prove his hypotheses. Back in 1842, Darwin theorized that coral atolls were formed as coral reefs stretch toward sunlight while ocean islands slowly sink beneath the sea surface. Most thought the reefs were a thin veneer but in the 1950s drilling confirmed Darwin’s thoughts but now researchers have more to add to the mystery of coral reef atolls. Rising and falling sea levels add to the growth as the rising seas cause the reefs to drown and have to reform, adding to the layering of corals.
[via CS Monitor]
Scientists studying earthquakes near Vancouver Island using underwater seismometers accidentally recorded hundreds of thousands of whale calls made by endangered fin whales. The Pacific Northwest is a seismic hotbed and from this audio evidence, is a hotbed for fin whales, the second largest creature on the planet behind the blue whale. The researchers filtered out the whale calls from the recording and mapped the whales as they traveled past the seismometers.
[via OPB]
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