Daily Devotional – August 29

Biology

The archer fish, named for its expertise in archery, has a distinctive way of getting its supper. This fish shoots its prey with water bullets! The aquatic sharpshooter shoots these “bullets” up to nine feet away with deadly accuracy to knock its prey off overhanging leaves and branches. To accomplish this requires the fish to have a unique design.

This small fish has a mouth that is angled upward with the roof of its mouth having a groove to hold the tongue. When the gills ‘pop’ or slam shut, water is shot through the mouth as the tongue presses into the groove. The tip of the tongue directs the water bullets - adjusting for velocity and volume in order to precisely hit the insect. The cricket, grasshopper, or butterfly falls into the water to be quickly eaten.

But the archer fish’s design is brilliant in many other ways. In order to conceal its position when hunting for insects above the water, its dorsal fins (the fins on its back) are farther back than almost all other fish. In this way, the hunter remains underwater and does not reveal its location. The archer fish’s eyes are also unique. They have a special portion of the retina that swivels into place allowing it to look at the air above the water. Try this when you are swimming, with your mask on underwater, try looking up into the air above the water. It is almost impossible to see anything clearly above the surface of the water in this way - but not for the archer fish!

The archer fish is uniquely made - from its angled mouth to the groove in the roof of its mouth; from the dorsal fin placed farther back to the swiveling retina allowing it to clearly see up out of the water and into the air. How does evolution explain this? Remember that the only option evolution has for explaining life is non-directed, non-purposeful mutations over millions of years. Other fish get their food in the water; no fish ever hunted its food in the air! So where did the archer fish get this idea? He didn’t. The archer fish testifies to the genius of its Maker.

The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King forever.

~ Psalm 29:10

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.