Several starlet corals (Siderastrea siderea). (Photo by D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0)
(CN) Thrust into the limelight by a botched biology experiment, a little-known coral species considered endangered is on the verge of vanishing. But unlike actually endangered species, this creature’s pending demise isn’t the result of climate change or ocean acidification it’s a simple case of mistaken identity.
That’s why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday proposed the erasure of Siderastrea glynni
not only from the federal Endangered Species Act, but as a species in general.
Decades after being first discovered near Panama, NOAA researchers now conclude the stony coral was planted during a science experiment and is actually the Caribbean species known as Siderastrea siderea
Truth and Her Twin, Part 1: Which One Is Real?
The history of twins and our fascination with them is legendary. Although the Bible doesn’t explicitly say so, Cain and Abel are often regarded as twins; and even if they weren’t, Esau and Jacob, a bit later in the Genesis narrative, definitely were. Interestingly, it also says in the Book of Malachi that God loved Jacob but hated Esau. There is so often a chalk-and-cheese aspect to twins: Despite clearly being similar, their fates are very different.
We see this even in something like the founding of Rome: Romulus, the twin of Remus, gets all the credit (the name Rome gives that away) and finally gets taken to heaven by his father, Mars (Ares), although he has slain his twin brother, as Cain slew his brother Abel.