Eyes in the Back of Their Backs

Proverbs 15:3
“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”

While science has yet to find a human mother with eyes in the back of her head, it turns out that there is a species of shrimp that comes pretty close ... with extra eyes on its back.

The shrimp goes only by its Latin name – exoculata for short. It lives beneath two miles of water in the mid-Atlantic Ridge, near geological formations called black smokers. Black smokers continuously shoot out thick black clouds of water at a temperature of 660 degrees F. No trace of sunlight ever penetrates to such depths. So why do these shrimp need eyes at all? Scientists learned that the super-heated water coming out of black smokers is so hot that it actually glows. The glow isn’t all that bright, which is why exoculata needs such large eyes that they will fit only on the shrimp’s back. And what do the shrimp see? They make their living within inches of the hot stream of water. If they get too close to the super-heated water they could become instant shrimp cocktail!

Nothing escapes the Creator’s notice – not these shrimp nor a life that is in trouble due to difficulty or sin. But we need to remember both His genius in solving problems and that His mind toward us is one of love because of the sacrifice of His Son for us.

Notes: Richard Monastersky. “Deep-Sea Shrimp.” Science News, vol. 135. Feb. 11, 1989, pp. 90-93.
Photo: Top of a 40-foot black smoker vent chimney at Loki's Castle, part of the northernmost hydrothermal vent field yet seen and sampled.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

---