Archerfish More Amazing than Previously Thought

Scientists have learned more about how the amazing archerfish can hit land-based targets up to 6.5 feet away with a stream of water it shoots from beneath the surface. Using high-speed cameras, scientists discovered that the jet of water that the fish spits from its mouth is constantly and perfectly tweaked so that a focused blob of water congregates just in front of the target ("Spitting fish 'adjust for distance,'" BBC News Science & Environment, Sept. 5, 2014). The fish accomplishes this complicated task, not by adjusting the pressure of the water created by squeezing its gill covers, but by micro adjusting the diameter of its mouth. It perfectly adjusts the water jet stream for each target, regardless of the distance. Prof. Stefan Schuster of the University of Bayreuth in Germany says, "They just do it with the mouth opening diameter. It is not a simple maneuver... The diameter is continuously changing. I've never seen anything in which they use a nozzle that changes its diameter. The most standard approach is adjusting the pressure. ... It means that the physics the fish is using is much more complicated than previously thought." Sadly, the scientists did not reach the reasonable conclusion that the animal must have been created by an intelligent Being that both understands physics and has the ability to create such amazing living creatures. This is the only sound conclusion since a fish doesn't know anything about physics and since there is no evolutionary creative mechanism (e.g., mutations, natural selection) that could produce such complexity in animals at the DNA level.

(Friday Church News Notes, September 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org,fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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