Creation Moments

High drama takes place even among the tiny, almost unnoticeable creatures in even the most remote parts of the world. In the frigid waters of Antarctica there's a tiny plankton that kidnaps even tinier chemists for its protection.

The tiny shrimp‑like plankton are not much larger than a grain of rice. They spend their days foraging the cold waters for food and hopefully not running into any plankton‑eating fish. The tiny creature has absolutely no defenses of its own. But this creature is not a shrimp without a plan. As it searches about, it may find an even smaller snail‑like pteropod. If it finds one, it will fasten the pteropod to its back, not harming it at all.

The pteropod makes a chemical that fish hate. Plankton‑eating fish that have tried to eat one of the shrimp‑like creatures with its chemist backpack have been seen to shake their heads violently and spit the pair out. But the shrimp's captive backpack slows down his foraging for food. So after several days, the shrimp releases the pteropod unharmed, to search for more food and, hopefully soon, another pteropod.

It sounds rather silly to suggest that one day, many years ago, one of these tiny plankton noticed that fish never ate pteropods because of the chemical defense they produce. Who would suggest that once he told his friends, all the shrimp‑like plankton started kidnapping pteropods? This strategy was obviously taught to the plankton by the Creator Himself.

Job 35:10-11

"But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?"

Prayer: Dear Lord, there is nothing that You have made that You do not care about. Fill me with the same love and concern for what You have created. Help me to love my fellow human beings as you do. Amen.

REF.: Amato, Ivan. Kidnapped plankton shares its defenses. Science News, v. 138. Image: Unidentified plankton, NOAA's National Ocean Service, PD, Wikimedia Commons.