Recently I read an interesting article about how Christians try to reconcile their beliefs with stuff like evolution. What does theistic evolution do for us?
David Hull (1935-2010) non-Christian philosopher of biology, homosexual activist wrote:
Whatever the God implied by evolutionary theory and the data of natural history may be like, He is not the Protestant God of waste not, want not. He is also not a loving God who cares about His productions. He is not even the awful God portrayed in the book of Job. The God of the Galápagos is careless, wasteful, indifferent, almost diabolical. He is certainly not the sort of God to whom anyone would be inclined to pray.
So first we need to know something really cool about sea slugs, in particular, nudibranch sea slugs. These sea slugs have the amazing ability of attacking and eating sea anemones. (Anemones are those things with the wavy stinging "tentacles." -what Nemo lives in)
Quoting from two articles:
Geoff Chapman (on Creation.com) wrote:
Sea slugs mainly eat sea anemones, which are covered with stinging cells that normally burst at the slightest touch, firing poison darts at the creature which touched them. The sea slug, however, is able to tear sea anemones apart and swallow the stinging cells without bursting them!
Even more amazing is what happens to the stinging cells when they reach the sea slug’s stomach. There are tiny tubes lined with moving cilia (hairs), which link the stomach to waving spurs on the sea slug’s back. The sea anemone’s stinging cells—so fatal to other organisms—are transported from the stomach, up those tiny tubes, to the tips of the spurs. There the sea slug stores those stolen weapons to use in its own defence, shooting them at any fish which dares to attack it!
The Ocean Blog wrote:
Some species within the group of nudibranchs called aeolids (pronounced eh-o-lids) steal the defenses of the stinging animals they feed on! Jellyfish, sea anemones, corals and their relatives in the phylum Cnidaria capture food with special stinging cells called cnidocytes, which line their tentacles. These venom-filled cells discharge tiny harpoon-like structures (called nematocysts) that are used to both capture prey and defend against would-be predators. Nematocysts are extremely effective in deterring most predators of cnidarians—but some predators, like aeolid sea slugs, are able to not only defeat the venomous weapons, but also use these defenses to their advantage.
When aeolids feed on these well-armed prey, the first thing they have to do is prevent the stinging cells from firing. They seem to do this using their slug slime: certain chemicals in their slimy mucus trail protect them from getting stung. Once ingested, the unfired nematocysts pass through the nudibranch's digestive tract. Some are excreted with the rest of the nudibranch's waste, but the immature stinging nematocysts are stored in pouches called cnidosacs until they have matured and are needed.
Aeolid slugs will then shoot out the stolen stinging cells when threatened, and the nematocysts sting and damage animals that try to eat the slugs
(Article
here)
Now let's think about this. How could this feature have evolved? hm.....
Charles Darwin himself said this:
Charles Darwin (Origin of Species) wrote:
If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not have been formed by successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.
hm...... how could have this amazing feature in sea slugs have evolved to what it is now? "successive, slight modifications..."? If the sea slug didn't have this capability from the very beginning, it would have died trying to eat a sea anemone. hm....
Interesting note: the rest of the ocean blog article goes on like this:
Quote:
As a researcher at the Smithsonian and University of Maryland, I am looking at the evolutionary process that has allowed nudibranchs to steal and store cnidarian nematocysts. How exactly the ancestors of these slugs managed to coopt the defenses of their prey for their own use is still a mystery. Learning more about the evolutionary history of these colorful sea slugs will show us how the aeolids acquired this function and where the ability came from.
hm good luck!
I'll leave you to think about sea slugs.
by EpicSkills32, Aug 22, 2014, 4:14 AM ![$\ [\text{Blog Post 116}] $](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/5/9/e/59e325eca40cea9b83dcc52a87c684bd0467a614.png)
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