A Most Amazing Escape Artist

Job 38:41
“Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.”

A parasitic worm that matures on land but must breed under the water has some remarkable abilities to make this difficult trick possible.

The worm grows to maturity on dry land but must return to a body of water to find a mate and breed. It grows inside insects like crickets. The insects it infests are typically not aquatic, making this problem number one. When breeding time comes, the worm causes the insect to move in such an uncontrolled manner that it eventually ends up in the water. Once in the water, it takes the worm about 10 minutes to escape from the insect. However, an insect struggling on the surface of the water is very attractive to a hungry fish. This is problem number two. But if the worm can’t wriggle free of the insect before it is eaten, the worm has more abilities to put into play. The worm inside an eaten insect continues to wriggle until it finally escapes through the fish’s mouth or gills. Scientists studying the worm reported observing six escapes each from frogs and perch and more than 20 escapes from trout.

God has marvelously provided for this little worm. But then, this is easy for Him, considering He has provided us with escape from sin, death and Satan through the innocent death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Notes: Science News, 4/22/06, p. 252, “Worm Can Crawl Out of Predator.”
Photo: Horsehair worms, also known as Gordian worms because they often tie themselves in knots. Courtesy of Bildspende von D. Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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