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Showing posts with the label Marine Biology

Corals Rescued by — Sea Cucumbers?

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There are over 1,200 species of sea cucumber, ranging in size from tiny to about as long as a man is tall, living in very deep water or very shallow. Ugly lumps for the most part that eat algae, waste products, other things. They have been likened to vacuum cleaners for the ocean floor, so sea cucumbers do serve a function. Some folks think they are good to eat. Coral reefs are ecosystems that resemble condominiums for a variety of residents, but also provide food. The growth rate has been wrongly used to support deep time . Unfortunately, these systems have been dying. This is where the lumps of the sea come in. Sea cucumbers, NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) In what seems to have been an almost accidental discovery, the symbiotic relationship between corals and sea cucumbers (one gets fed, the other gets a clean and healthy living environment) was discovered. When there are plenty of sea cucumbers around coral reefs th

Stargazer Fish Challenges Evolutionists and Creationists

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That is one ugly fish! Actually, more than one in this group. The stargazer is built with eyes on the top of its head (hence the name), and a downturned mouth reminiscent of  Grumpy Cat . Stargazers come in a range of sizes, and they have some startling traits. One is that it buries itself in the sand so it can hide or hunt. The bobtail squid does this as well. On land, there are snakes, lizards, spiders, and other things that hide in sand. Like the even uglier anglerfish of the deep sea, it has an appendage to use as a lure for prey. Stargazer, Flickr / Etienne Gosse ( CC BY 2.0 ) These traits and more that are rather startling are challenging to both evolutionists and biblical creationists. To simply assert evolution is not demonstrating it. Creationists need to provide plausible explanations as to what may have happened in the once very good creation to have a predator like this, including how the Creator frontloaded genetic information that was later modified. ‘Monster of the oce

Two Living Things that Give Off Salt

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There are words with phile  or similar in them that often mean a love of something, such as philosophy (love or wisdom or learning). The word structure can also make it seem like an organism has a fondness for something, actually meaning that it thrives in a certain environment. A thermophile  lives in extremely hot areas such as the thermal vents on the ocean floor. Want to take a crack at halophyte ? That one is a bit tricky, but it uses the word for salt. There are plants that thrive in saline conditions inhospitable to many other plants. Athel Tamarisk, iNaturalist / Xochitl Zambrano ( CC BY 4.0 ) Athel tamarisk is one of those stubborn plants that lives in deserts and is found in many parts of the world. One of its handels is the Athel pine, and it does resemble pine in some ways. It is also useful as a windbreak, and since it doesn't burn easily, it can be used to hinder fire. When it lives in saline conditions, it actually gives off salt! Athel tamarisk was designed by the

Sunflower Motion — More Complex than Thought

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Sunflowers are one of the easiest flowers to identify, what with those big yellow heads loaded with sometimes 2,000 seeds and such. They are also a provision of the Creator for our benefit, grown and harvested for oil and the seeds, which are healthy — and may be a substitute for people with nut allergies . Of course, a famous characteristic is how young sunflowers track the sun from east to west. It was thought that this was a kind of phototropism, which is when plants and fungi grow toward (or away from) a light source. Sunflowers, Pixnio / Bruce Fritz It has been learned that this ability of young sunflowers to follow the sun across the sky (even on cloudy days) is heliotropism . It is not fully understood and is very complex. Plants adapt to changes in conditions, and different genes are expressed in response to certain conditions. This is yet another example of the Master Engineer at work. Botanists have long wondered how heliotropism works to allow this amazing plant to track th

These Jellyfish can Learn

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While box jellyfish are notorious for having painful or even lethal stings from their tentacles, this one is harmless to humans. Mayhaps it is because they are so tiny. These little fellas are north of South America and the Caribbean Sea around mangroves. They swim vigorously near the surface. One would not expect anything interesting out of these brainless creatures, but the Creator shows his design skill in even the tiniest organisms. These box jellies have a complex nerve system. Researchers were amazed that they showed associative learning, not just reflexive responses. Box jellyfish, iNaturalist / snigdhasehgal ( CC BY-NC 4.0 ) Of course, foolish scientists gave praise to Darwin and made up some unsupportable speculations about the "dawn of the evolution of the nervous system," since we're all related. Because evolution. Even with all the evidence of creation and design in extreme details, Darwin's acolytes still refuse to give glory to God for what they discove

Creatures Underfoot Improving our Lives

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It is easy to forget something or someone when we do not see them — or know that they are affecting us in the first place. American kids sign highschool yearbooks with pledges to always be friends, but those promises were just words. Did they know the names of the janitors? We see robins, the early birds, getting the earthworms but seldom realize that those creatures are marvels of design for their own ecosystems. In fact, earthworms and other organisms under our feet (ofttimes way under) were put here by the Creator to help our lives. Earthworm, Pexels / Karolina Grabowska , modified at PhotoFunia Watch a video of how earthworms move and you'll see that they were designed for their place in this world. They have muscles, and brains that tell the muscles how to work. Interesting that there are fossils of them dated to the Cambrian, but Darwinists can evosplain that away. People talk about "numbers of species" in the world, but soil biodiversity is not exactly understood.

Birds of the Galápagos and Natural Selection

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It may seem that when creationists mention natural selection, we are giving Darwinists a foothold. Wrong-o! Natural selection was first discussed by creationists, then the Bearded Buddha hijacked and twisted it for his own agenda. The true concept is very real. Darwin was on what must have been an exciting five-year mission aboard the Beagle , and there was a long stop at the Galápagos islands. We looked at the tortoises , now we will consider the even more iconic birds. Flightless cormorant, WikiComm / Lip Kee ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ), modified at PhotoFunia Environments change, so living things must adapt to survive. Interestingly, evolutionists maintain that the loss of features  (such as when certain insects and birds — cormorants — become flightless) is evidence for their conjectures, but the truth is quite the opposite. Also, the islands have boobys, which are closely related to gannets. There are three main varieties that have differences in their actions. Natural selection at work. T

RNA Editing in Octopuses Defies Evolution

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Sometimes a search on free-to-use graphic sites for alien  yields octopuses. While most of those search engines are terrible, there are people who think that because the octopus has so many amazing traits, it is actually an alien being. In reality, the Creator blessed them with several amazing characteristics.  They are cold-blooded, but their heads are susceptible to temperatures. Some researchers got a notion to study the two-spot octopus and its neurological functions. The genome was sequenced, so they had that going for them, which is nice. Two-spotted octopus, Flickr / Jerry Kirkhart ( CC BY 2.0 ) According to evolutionary speculations, mutations gradually accumulate over a long period of time. However, they are nowhere near as random as thought . In addition, the RNA is changing the coding and proteins. Mutations are not permanent, and the RNA editing happens very quickly. This is clearly evidence of the Master Designer's work. Octopi are incredible and intelligent creatures

The Surprising Seahorse and Backward Breeding

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A spell back, I mentioned that Lisa Myworries from the Darwin Ranch took some time to visit the beach and bring back seashells and sand dollars . Roland Meadows and I were in town yesterday to get a few things. Lisa and other hands from the ranch arrived to get some supplies. We talked for a while and I learned that she likes to do snorkeling, was amazed by the seahorse. She saw a few that had anchored themselves to objects by their tails, and wondered why these things are considered a kind of fish in the first place. Seahorse, Unsplash / David Clode Would you do me the honor of being monogamous throughout the breeding season? Actually looking  like a typical fish is not a requirement to be classified as one. The seahorse has a resemblance to a horse, especially its head. They are not strong swimmers, but use that tail to hitch a ride or stay in place. One of the strangest traits (I wonder if this is an example of the Creator's pranks on naturalists) is that the female deposits the

Sand Dollars, Sea and Shore

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Lisa Myworries, Winkie Guard supervisor at the Darwin Ranch up near Deception Pass, needed some time away. She went to the ocean and brought back sea shells (some purchased from Sara's shop at the seashore). In the mix were those things often called sand dollars . Many things on the beach are actually discarded by their former owners, some are even skeletons. A diver may see a colorful  living sand dollar and not make the connection with that white thing on the shore. They actually give testimony of the Creator's ingenuity. Sand dollar via PxHere They are sea urchins that burrow. The hairlike cilia help bring their tiny bits of food to their mouths, and they don't seem to be in a hurry to chew on and swallow lunch. The way they get their colors is rather difficult for scientists to determine. Also, their remains have been found up on mountains, which is yet another indication of the Genesis Flood. According to researchers, there are 150 different extant sand dollar species

Crabs and the Miracle of Convergent Evolution

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Do not be deceived, secularists are like Christians and creationists, believing in miracles. They do not admit it like we do. While Darwin's acolytes claim to believe in science and reject any semblance of faith, they presuppose evolution despite  the evidence, not because of it. Crustaceans have been around a mighty long time. They have no evolutionary history, but just popped into existence (an unacknowledged miracle). Crabs have adapted to a many ecological niches, so materialists evosplain their varieties through the miracle of convergent evolution . Crab, Unsplash / Kai Dahma , modified at Pixlr Secularists are so busy saying, "Hail Darwin! Blessed be!" that they don't notice the flaws in their reasoning. Many know the  Tree of Life stuff is bad enough, but appealing to convergent evolution actually makes things worse. If they realized that praising evolution's "flexibility" sounds like it is rooted in faith and not science, mayhaps they could cons

Comb Jellies Thought to be Last Common Ancestor

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The name comb jelly  does not sound like a real creature. (Indeed, the awful Pexels search engine produced none of them, instead showing people with gel in their hair.) They are almost transparent and seem gelatinous, often with colors that seem like something out of a science fiction movie. Comb jellies have tentacles so they can eat zooplankton and occasionally small fish. They are not jellyfish despite the resemblance, and their tentacles do not sting. They are common in oceans and seem to like being near the shores of the Americas best . Comb jelly, Wikimedia Commons / Alexander Semenov ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) There are about 150 known species of these critters, but some believers in universal common ancestor evolution think they are the descendants of the common ancestor in the distant past. It seems almost a game, jelly fanciers or sponge folks, who will win the prize of determining the ancestor? Let's see if they can explain the complex nervous systems and reproduction of these &q

New Jellyfish Discovered, no Evolution

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In a way, it should not be surprising that a jellyfish was discovered way down in the deep blue sea — well, not so blue at such depths. More like black because light does not reach there. We have not explored the sea extensively because of darkness, pressure, temperatures, and more. We looked at how anemones are unfriendly to believers in descent with modifications evolution a while ago. They are so delicate, fossilization is rare. Jellyfish are also fragile and the proper conditions are necessary for fossilization. Jellyfish Atolla reynoldsi ,  NOAA ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ), modified at PhotoFunia The fossil record shows something that is unsurprising to biblical creationists: Jellyfish have always been jellyfish even after millions years in the conventional dating system. They were created to be what they are. Sure, there are varieties. But no sign of transitional forms in all that time. The eyes of the box jellyfish are baffling to secular scientists. Maybe A. reynoldsi  has some interes

Anemones are Unfriendly to Evolution

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Sea anemones are not helpful to evolution. These friends of clownfish did not fossilize easily, like their jellyfish cousins. Apparently anemone fossils are rarer than those of jellyfish. Like with so many other creatures, there is no sign of evolution in the fossil record. The old story of something dying and sinking, then getting covered up and eventually become permineralized into the fossils we all know and love is false, but secular dogma. That is why secular scientists are started by fossils of soft creatures, organs, and the like. Sea Anemone, Flickr / Bernard Spragg (public domain) For something to fossilize, it requires rapid burial. This provides the materials as well as the conditions lacking in the typical secular story. The overwhelming majority of the billions of fossils that were buried all around the globe are marine organisms. This easily indicates the Genesis Flood. Interestingly, secularists are also discussing rapid burial. Unsurprisingly, they do not mention the

Thalattosuchia, the After-While Crocodiles

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A fundamental tenet of universal common descent evolution is that humans evolved from fish, and ultimately, from minerals. There had to be creatures evolving limbs from fins, and  Tiktaalik roseae got evolutionists all het up, but that was a failure . Other critters supposedly evolved from land back into the water, and the Thalattosuchia are considered candidates for that as well. Here we get into word salad, where they are referred to as marine crocodiles, but are not classified with crocodilia. Whatever. Thalats and such were crocodile relatives, then. Saltwater Crocodile, Flickr / Bernard Dupont ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ) Just like the original transition from water to land, there is no evidence of moving from land to water. Some evolutionists got a notion to use computed tomography, and they think they found a confirmation for their biases. Their article used the complex scientific principle of Making Things Up™ in lieu of evidence. Sure is a great deal of time, money, education, and more

Mantis Shrimp: Simply Smashing

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Curious that a British exclamation of approval is uncommon in the formerly United States, but this child is not using it in a literal way. The mantis shrimp smashes things — except for those that have harpoons instead of smashing claws . This predator has a resemblance to the praying mantis because of a second pair of limbs, hence the name. But it is not a shrimp, only distantly related to them. The mantis shrimp slaps down its prey very hard, very fast. Peacock mantis shrimp, Wikimedia Commons / Rickard Zerpe ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ) Believers in stardust-to-stomatopod evolution cannot come up with plausible explanations for this critter's development. Study on it. That claw catapults at high speeds with a special mechanism. In fact, the bubbles made are even more devastating that the initial strike because of cavitation  (which would have been powerful in the Genesis Flood ). Get your finger too close and you may regret it . They also have exceptional vision which is being studied for

Seashells and their Engineering

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A while back, I took a day to visit the seashore. Shortly after arriving, I located the booth where Sarah sells seashells by the seashore and we talked about various things. Sara's sister Suzie sells seashells by the seashore in Australia, and she's doing well. Sarah is a merchant, so she puts in a great deal of time searching for good specimens (often snorkeling for seashells as well) and even finds ways to make them memorable. Jewelry, coffee table displays, and all that good stuff. Seashells, Morguefile / jade If you study on it, there are basically two different types of shells. Crabs and their kin have one kinds, but most of what we find on the beach are made by mollusks and are composed of calcium carbonate. The Master Engineer designed these creatures to make their homes while they live in them, constantly growing and working. Shells are strong and (I believe) made colorful because of God's desire to give us that pleasure. Darwinists are once again at a loss to expla

Underestimating So-Called Lower Animals

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Occasionally, it is helpful to state the obvious: Just because a wild animal is cute does not mean it is safe to approach. There are hundreds of octopus species, and they do not mean harm for humans — but it happens by accident or if they feel threatened. And watch out for that smaller blue-ringed octopus with deadly venom . Moving on, the octopus shows a great deal of intelligence and ingenuity. Sometimes that is to the dismay of researchers and keepers of aquariums. Octopus, Unsplash / Diane Picchiottino While designations of higher  and lower  life forms is based on fundamentally-flawed evolutionary concepts, humans are made in the image of God. We can make sophisticated music, detailed communication, science, mathematics, and more. Even so, octopuses and other creatures show remarkable abilities that reveal the handiwork of the Master Engineer. Don't underestimate them. Oh, and those suckers? They get a huge amount of sensory information from them. The idea that animals general

Erythromycin on the Half Shell

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Marine invertebrates are interesting and useful to study, and we recently read about a clam as yet another living fossil . This time, we discuss clams that live in mudflats and produce erythromycin. That is an extremely useful antibiotic, sometimes prescribed for people who have penicillin allergies. Although most bacteria are beneficial, we know some are harmful. The mudflats (also, tidal flats) that the Asiatic hard clam calls home are loaded with bacteria (and have other dangers, watch where you walk). Tides or rivers drop a lot of sediment in these coastal wetlands. So how do we get clams that produce and important antibiotic? Stewart Island Oban Mudflats, WikiComm / Ingolfson (Public Domain) Marine invertebrates are quite at home among pathogens even though they are immune-system challenged. The Creator put something in these clams that are living dangerously while secreting erythromycin and other antibacterial activity. Naturally, Darwin's disciples appeal to evolution and m

The Coelacanth Continues to Frustrate Evolutionists

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Long ago, the coelacanth was considered extinct. Its fossils got believers in fish-to-fire marshal evolution all excited because it had nubbin fins that they thought resembled feet. Yee haw boy howdy, this bad boy was a transitional form. It was evolving for land life as required by the Darwinian narrative! The geologic column has numerous problems including fossils in the wrong order and so-called ghost lineages (where certain fossils appear, disappear for a few million Darwin years, and then reappear). That stuff gets left out of the millions of years with transitions narrative. The coelacanth was not willing to be a part of it. Coelacanth,  NOAA  (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Evolutionists made their pronouncements about the fossils according to their presuppositions. Then the coelacanth decided to stop playing hide and seek. One was found, but not in good enough condition for detailed study. Eventually, more were found, and were pretty much identical to their