The Fish That Shoots Down Evolution

Vertical Thought Magazine ^ | June 2006 | Mario Seiglie

[DouglasKC]

The Fish That Shoots Down Evolution

This unusual fish uses a specialized system to blast insects out of the air. How could this evolve slowly over time when there is no survival advantage without the whole system working perfectly?

by Mario Seiglie

In Asia, Africa and Australia lives a remarkable creature, the archerfish, that shoots down its prey from the air above it with a burst of water. It uses its tongue and the top of its mouth to form a groove similar to a gun barrel. Then, by compressing its gills, it squirts water up to six feet with deadly accuracy—in spite of the distortion caused by seeing the target from below the surface of water.

What's so amazing about the archerfish's ability to shoot straight? When light passes between air and water, it is refracted, which causes a distortion. If an archerfish simply aimed at the object where it appeared to be from below the water, it could never hit its target! Yet scientists have found that archerfish are able to strike their target when sighting upwards at angles of 40 degrees!

More amazingly, marine researchers have discovered that these fish can hit their prey whether the amount of refraction is large or small. They have also found that the fishes' binocular vision allows them to see clearly at considerable distances above them, an ability other fish do not have.

An experiment

Here is an experiment. In a clear glass of water, hold a pencil at an angle halfway under the water and look at it from different positions. Notice how the pencil appears different below and above the water. That is the refraction of the light changing from the water to the air.

So how can the archerfish compensate for this distortion and know how to shoot at the right place?

Evolutionists don't know

Evolutionists still don't know how the archerfish got its amazing abilities. They can only wonder! Viewed through the distortion of evolution, they cannot explain how the archerfish gradually learned to not aim where its eyes see but to aim instead at a different spot where the target actually is.

Without its binocular vision, it could not see the object with such precision, and without the special shape of the upper mouth and a specialized tongue, it could not make the groove it needs to shoot the concentrated jet of water. Many factors have to appear together—and be perfectly formed—for this shooting mechanism to work. This, of course, goes totally against Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory, which is based on a gradual, step-by-step process.

Darwin wrote in The Origin of Species, "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down" (1859, p. 171).

The archerfish offers precisely such an example, since several complex systems must all appear at the same time, perfectly and not gradually formed—binocular vision, a specialized mouth and tongue, specialized gills to compress and expel water and an aiming system based in the brain and not in the eyes. If any of these parts is missing, the mechanism will not hit the target and no survival advantage is created.

Shooting down Darwin's theory

When you get down to the facts, the archerfish with one squirt of its gills shoots down Charles Darwin's entire theory of evolution—and that by Darwin's own admission!

So evolution doesn't have the answer to this mystery. But the Bible does. Genesis 1:20-21 says that God created all the creatures that live in the water. He created a great variety of perfectly formed fish, including the archerfish with all its special features, such as binocular vision, other specialized organs and a built-in ability to compensate for the distortion of the water. VT

[DouglasKC]

A fascinating fish...

[Pharmboy]

Ping...

[bmwcyle]

Good Luck and God Bless

[PatrickHenry]

Thanks. I don't usually ping for stuff like this, but it's the 4th of July, so I'm going to make an exception. I'm cranking up the ping machine ...

[RaceBannon]

...a good catch...

[PatrickHenry]

Evolution Ping The List-O-Links

A conservative, pro-evolution science list, now with over 380 names. See the list's explanation, then FReepmail to be added or dropped. To assist beginners: But it's "just a theory", Evo-Troll's Toolkit, and How to argue against a scientific theory.

[LauraleeBraswell]

And creationists do know? Is it because God made the earth in seven days? Does that adequately explain why this fish is able to spit at targets?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[ruiner]

Sounds like an open and shut case to me!!

*rolls eyes*

[Old Professer]

Since they are prolific eaters and not all that picky, it may have developed as a sport. :)

[DouglasKC]

And creationists do know? Is it because God made the earth in seven days? Does that adequately explain why this fish is able to spit at targets?

What explains it is that God designed and built the fish that way.

[Beagle8U]

"And creationists do know? Is it because God made the earth in seven days? Does that adequately explain why this fish is able to spit at targets?"

And Darwin is going to explain why chimps never evolved into anything?

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Seems to me that that the two systems could reinforce each other. Some fish is born a weird groove in its mouth that shoots water a short distance. It gets some hits by pure luck. One of its descendants gets a slight improvement in brain structure that lets it start to have better aim. A few generations more gets a better grove that can shoot further. A few generations later, aim improves for the longer range. Repeat as necessary.

Two different organs, but one system, therefore. Improvement in one part of it spurs improvement in the other.

[DennisR]

Easy evolutionary explanation here:

The bug evolved from goo, right? So the fish evolved in one part of the lake and the bug evolved in the other part of the lake. The fish started to eat little amoebae to stay alive. Of course, this was after its eyes, gills, and digestive system had evolved so it could eat the little amoebae. (What it ate before then, I do not know.) One day 5,750,536,211 years ago, the fish and the bug met in the middle of the lake. The fish looked at its first meal with delight. The bug by that time had evolved into one of those bugs you see skittering around the surface of the lake, right? So when the fish lunged for its first real meal, the bug began skittering. But it skittered so fast due to fear that there was actually aerodynamic lift (probably the first instance of evolutionary Bernoulli's principle). As surprising as it might seem, the bug became airborne! It flew to the shore of the lake where it gave birth to other flying bugs. These bugs then stupidly flew too close to the surface of the lake, and Darwinian survival of the species continued. The ones who could fly higher - out of the reach of the fish - are ancestors of those we see today.

At least that's my explanation. :)

[ConservativeDude]

I'll reply for the other side here, b/c we know what's coming:

"This doesn't shoot down evolution, b/c by definition, nothing can. It is impossible to deny evolution and in fact it is so impossible that there should not even be any rational discussion. And furthermore, for the record, you non-evolutionists are a bunch of knuckle-dragging idiots. So there."

Perhaps someone will add something to that...but I doubt it.

[PatrickHenry]

For those who weren't here, we've been through this kind of issue before. There's always going to be another critter:

MARVEL OF GOD'S CREATION: The Bombardier Beetle. And oldie-goldie crevo thread from 5 years ago.
Bombardier Beetles and the Argument of Design. From Talk.Origins.
Another service of Darwin Central, the conspiracy that cares.

[HighWheeler]

Evolution v. Creation

[Schweinhund]

Wikipedia says the following:

Archerfish are remarkably accurate in their shooting, adult fish almost always hitting the target on the first shot. They can bring down an insect six feet above the water's surface. This is partially due to their good eyesight, but also because of their ability to compensate for the refraction which occurs when light travels through water. They do this by swimming directly under the prey, where the distortion is the least.

When their prey is spotted, the archerfish sticks its snout just above the surface and squirts a jet of water at its victim. It is able to do this because of the narrow groove it has at the top of its mouth. It presses its tongue against this groove to form a narrow channel, then contracts its gill covers to force a powerful jet of water through the channel.

The resulting jet of water can be up to 2-3 m long, but their accuracy only allows them to shoot insects 1-1.5 m away. If the first shot does not knock the victim into the water, the archerfish will keep trying. Young archerfish start shooting when about 2.5 cm long, but are inaccurate at first and must learn from experience.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Since they are prolific eaters and not all that picky, it may have developed as a sport. :)

More likely they hung around in barrooms practicing drunk hitting the spittoons. When they sober up they can easily hit a fly in air while underwater accounting for the bend in the light.