Daily Devotional – October 3

Microbiology

Off the coast of Hawaii lives a little squid about two inches long. During the day, the bobtail squid sleeps, huddled down in the sand. At night, it hunts. It swims near the surface, revealing a silhouette as viewed from below. To avoid detection, he wears an “invisibility cloak” made of glowing bacteria on his underbelly that mimics moonlight. This bioluminescent bacteria (Vibro Fischeri) is harbored in a special organ in the squid’s mantle, where the squid provides food for them. The bobtail squid then uses filters to adjust how much of the bacteria’s brightness shows so that it matches the moonlight. If it’s a full moon; it mimics the light of a full moon, with a crescent moon, it mimics the lower light level of a crescent, and if a cloud suddenly covers the Moon, no problem!

Each morning as the squid buries itself in the sand, it releases most of the glowing bacteria. During the day, the remaining bacteria multiply so they are ready to go by nightfall. How does the squid know which bacteria to “capture”? How did it know that it needed an “invisibility cloak” to hide its silhouette? How did it know that it needed a filter to dim or brighten the bioluminescent bacteria? All these features shout design! When we see a design, we know there must be a Designer, and that Designer is God!

Thou art my hiding place and my shield...

~ Psalm 119:114a

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

References for this devotional.