Aim, spit and catch
by David Catchpoole
The Archer Fish, renowned for being able to shoot down insects with a well-aimed spit of water, is also adept at calculating just where its prey will fall. In fact, researchers have found that the fish starts sprinting towards the landing spot within 100 milliseconds of a hit—a reaction time twice as fast as the average human’s. And unlike humans, in that time the Archer Fish has already extracted all the information needed to predict the insect’s trajectory. So, not needing any further visual cues, the fish charges straight to the point where its victim will hit the water.1 In contrast, outfielders in games like baseball or cricket keep their eye on the ball, running in a curved path as they keep track of its flight. That means running further, which takes longer. Said one researcher, ‘The Archer Fish would be the better outfielder.’2 This means the Archer Fish’s brain is capable of complex mathematics (trigonometry and calculus). But the programming required for this calculation is very advanced, and would also be useless unless it was fully functional. Since one never sees natural processes giving rise to programmed information, the fully-formed program is evidence of an intelligent Programmer who programmed the original kind from which today’s Archer Fish is descended. As with all living things, each generation is programmed to pass on the original program, with the ability to vary within its own kind. But no new programs ever arise. All things reproduce ‘after their kind’ as Genesis indicates (in addition to showing brilliant design). Reference and note - Even before the Fall, this program might have been useful if the fish could shoot down pieces of plant matter. Actually, though, insects are probably not ‘living creatures’ (Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה nephesh chayyāh) in the Biblical sense. So what we call biological death of insects is not in the same category as the death of nephesh chayyah, which is the result of the Curse. Return to text.
- New Scientist 176(2363):21, 5 October 2002. Return to text.
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