[judywillow]

Half an eye is one thing if the owner is not depending on the proto-eye to do something else while it's developing into an eye. Baleen is a lot worse than that. The owner is absolutely depending on his teeth to kill prey animals and fish with while they are turning into baleen, and he can only go two or three days without food.

[shubi]

"The owner is absolutely depending on his teeth to kill prey animals and fish with while they are turning into baleen, and he can only go two or three days without food."

Hopeless! Don't you understand that as long as teeth can function as teeth they can get prey? And if teeth can strain a few supplemental crill, all the better.

[Thatcherite]

You seem to be thinking of some kind of Lamarkism the way you phrase your example.

You haven't demonstrated that the intermediate forms are unviable. To help you, the intermediate forms don't have to be good for just a couple of days, they have to last a whale's whole life. Now show that they are unviable to convince me.