You can find Chris Kotsiopoulos’s site Greek Sky here. While there you can order prints of some of his images if you’d like.

A butterfly and a bee. The shot is taken at Parnassus mountain, Greece.

Camera Info: Canon EOS 550D, 11/8/2010 10:55, Shutter Speed 1/640, Aperture Value 5.0, ISO 200, Lens Canon EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Focal Length 100.0 mm

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When I originally posted the Rays image that I just put up on my www.ImageOfTheDayBlog.com back in 2008 it raised some questions about Rays. At the time I did some research and posted the following post. I decided to share it along with the image.

The first information I found was at www.worldscreatures.com

Rays are a type of flattened fish and are closely related to sharks. Rays are a result of the evolutional (They meant to say evolutionary, I think.) cycle of sharks. Rays are social animals that live all over the world in oceans, and even are found in some channels where fresh water flows into the ocean. Rays often come together in huge groups of up to thousands of individuals, but other rays live alone.

Like the shark Rays are also Invertebrates with no bones. Their skeleton is made of cartilage, which is a tough, fibrous substance, not nearly as hard as bone.

That answered many of the questions. They are indeed a social animal. I never knew. They often come together in groups of up to thousands! Again, I never knew. Although now that I know this image I posted wasn’t just some sort of freak occurrence – it is one of my “dreams” to see this in person before I die. I did know they were related to sharks.

As I continued on in my research I found some astounding stats about rays.
They are from the order called Batoidea.

The largest family is Mobulidae – the Manta Rays (Devil Rays or Devilfish). A Manta can weigh up to 3,000 pounds, and have a width of up to 22 feet. Wow! They actually use their “horns” that give them their devilish name to stuff their prey into their mouths.

There are so many types of rays. I will describe a few here. As well as point out some odd facts.

Torpedinidae – the Electric Ray or Torpedo has an electric organ in their wings that actually generates an electrical current. They use if for defense and to stun their prey. Apparently the ancient Greeks would use them for shock therapy, as the current is strong enough to stun a human. I have seen one of these in an aquarium before. They have an audio system set up in the tank with a speaker outside of it that allowed us to hear the electrical current they generated in the tank. It is a more common practice on the electric eel tanks. It really is amazing to be able to hear it though, even with the eels.

Dasyatidae – the Stingrays or Whiprays are probably the best-known ray of them all.They have rows of spines along their tails which are normally longer than their bodies. The spines contain a poison that causes intense pain and can be fatal to humans.

This is the variety of ray that Steve Irwin was swimming with when he died in a tragic accident. It however was not the poison that killed him, but instead the massive blood loss caused when Irwin pulled the spine from his body in what I can only imagine was a reflexive action. I can see why he was swimming with them and filming them though. They truly are a beautiful and majestic animal which are generally docile toward humans.

There are some 500 species of rays, divided into 18 different families, including: skates, eagles or bat rays, Guitarfishes, and Sawfishes.

a Spotted Eagle Ray (bat ray)

a Shovelnose Guitarfish

a Green Sawfish - you can see why this unusual ray is named a sawfish. Nature is amazing.

Rays even intermingle with other species apparently. On the left is a Guitarfish, on the right an Eagle Ray.

The Rays reproduction system is one of internal fertilization, with most bearing live young. The Skates variety however lays a flattened rectangular egg that is enclosed in a leathery shell. The empty egg casings can be found on beaches and are known as “mermaids’ purses.”

Rays are scattered about in tropical and sub-tropical marine waters. Although, some families include a temperate or cold-water species. Certain Rays can actually live in brackish bays and estuaries. The Sawfish enters into the freshwater of lakes and rivers.

Again, I need to say they are a beautiful, amazing, and no matter how much you learn about them, a puzzling creature. The latter of which I am sure is a key reason Irwin was with them. He wanted to help us all learn more about them. It was just the type of person he was. I had fun finding out more about them, and hope you did too.

As the title of the post says, for now I am tentatively calling it Blogging The Trends. We will see if the name sticks or not.

The trending topic I am most interested in today is definitely Van Halen! The band (with original frontman David Lee Roth in place) played their first concert since 2008 at a small club, “Cafe Wha?” in Greenwich Village, New York last night. It was the beginning of their promotional tour for their new album, “A Different Kind of Truth” which is set to be released on February 7th. Fans won’t have to wait till then to hear some of their new material as the first single and video for the song, “Tattoo”, will be released this coming Tuesday, January 10th.

The setlist that the small crowd of about 250 got to hear at Cafe Wha? reads a lot like a greatest hits CD with some lesser hits that in my opinion is just as good if not better than the ones considered to be the biggest hits. They also included one song off the new album, “She’s The Woman”.

Here’s the full setlist:
You Really Got Me
Runnin’ With The Devil
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
Everybody Wants Some
She’s The Woman
Dance The Night Away
Panama
Hot For Teacher
Ice Cream Man
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
Jump
Beautiful Girls
Unchained

The tour kicks off on February 18th in Louisville, Kentucky at the KFC Yum! Center. I will be looking forward to May 1st when they roll into Tulsa, OK at the BOK Center! For a full list of tour dates click here.  I am also looking forward to hearing the new album since it is the first studio release with DLR on vocals since the huge hit, “1984″.

Elsewhere on the trending list:

Jersey Shore Season 5 kicked off last night. While I am sure millions tuned in, I was not among them. I did however catch Snooki recently on Leno and Live with Kelly. There was talk about The Situation’s friend “The Unit” appearing on the show this season. From what I have heard, and just from looking at pictures of him I have a feeling it might be more appropriate for him to have “The Tool” tattooed on his bicep than “Unit”.

One other note, I grew up in Jersey, in a Shore town with its own Amusement Park and Beach. I also spent A LOT of time in Seaside and Point Pleasant. While there are quite a few like those seen on Jersey Shore, let me assure you that MOST are nothing like them.

Apparently the video diary of Casey Anthony that was released on YouTube yesterday WAS indeed her, BUT her lawyers are claiming she did NOT post it, nor did she give anyone permission to post it online. Jon Briley, an Ohio man, appeared on Nancy Grace last night and claims he found the video on a pay web site that was charging $3-5 to show the video. He says he then found it for free , downloaded it and then put it on YouTube so it would be free for everyone to view so Anthony would not be profiting from the video.

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel are now engaged. Happy to see that, they seem to make a great couple, and it should be different than the normal high profile marriage and last. I must say those are going to be some REALLY pretty and talented babies!

Kiyoshi Kimura, left, cuts a bluefin tuna in front of his restaurant near Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on Jan. 5, 2012. The fish fetched over $735,000, making it the most expensive tuna ever sold - Photo by: Shizuo Kambayashi / AP

A Bluefin Tuna sold for a whale of a price in Japan! The owner of the Tokyo based Kiyomura Co., Kiyoshi Kimura purchased a 593 lb. Bluefin Tuna for a whopping $735,000. It is a bit of tradition that the Tsukiji market auction rings in a new record price in its first auction of the new year. This year’s price indeed broke last year’s record of about $260,000. Last year, and a lot of the time the record tunas head to somewhere overseas. This year however Kimura said he wanted to make sure it stayed in Japan saying, “Rather than having it taken away overseas, I wish for Japanese people to eat good tuna together. Despite the March 11 earthquake and the sluggish economy, I want to lift up Japan’s spirits urging people to work hard together.” By the way, that is $1,247 a pound!

Keri Russell and husband Shane Dreary had their second child on Thursday, a girl. They have named her Willa Lou. She joins her four year old brother River as the couple’s two children. Congratulations to the happy couple!

 
Long-time Saturday Night Live cast member Fred Armisen’s IFC series Portlandia has its second season premiere tonight at 9PM ET. I didn’t hear about this show until a few days ago. I have to say I will be DVRing it tonight and if it is any good I will get caught up on season one.

Former Mrs. Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren has had a $12.3 Million 1932 estate she purchased demolished, and plans to build her own dream home on the North Palm Beach, Florida locale.

The Cubs have traded Carlos Zambrano to the Florida Marlins. I am thinking it still won’t be enough to put the Marlins atop the N.L. East.

Finally, The Girl Scouts are celebrating their historic 100th anniversary this year. To celebrate they are introducing a brand new Girl Scout Cookie that will be sold alongside long-time favorites like Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, and of course the Thin Mints. the new cookie are named “Savanna Smiles”. It is a “bite-sized, lemon-wedge cookie dusted with powdered sugar and bursting with zesty lemon flavor”. They are named in honor of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low’s hometown of Savannah, Georgia. You should start seeing all the cookies on sale in the coming weeks so get your $4 a box ready!

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