Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

The Humble Comb Jelly Has a Through-Gut

Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

My friend Steve used to have an old Pontiac that was in shambles. Somewhere along the line the front bumper had fallen off, and somebody welded on an I-beam as a replacement. It was a rust bucket that was literally falling apart, but the funny things was, that old car just kept on running, seemingly on inertia. A hose might spring a leak or a belt might snap, but it kept on running. Steve’s Pontiac had become a fixture—for better or worse, it had been running for decades and it was unbelievable that it would ever stop. Why breakdown now, it could always run one more day.  Read more

Comments
As well the jellyfish is also found to be far more advanced than was thought on Darwinian presuppositions:
Instant Body Plans: The Case of Jellyfish - July 26, 2013 Excerpt: Cubomedusae (box jellyfish) are particularly interesting. They have eyes that are almost human-like! "As the name depicts, Cubozoans have a squarish shape with four tentacles and four rhopalia. Each rhopalium contains six eyes of four different types, two of which (the upper lens eye and the lower lens eye) are highly developed image-forming eyes with cornea, pupil, lens, and retina, much like our own...." "The earliest widely accepted animal fossils are rather modern-looking cnidarians, possibly from around 580 million years ago, although fossils from the Doushantuo Formation can only be dated approximately." So it's not clear that the dates are right, but even if they precede the main (Cambrian) explosion by 40 million years, they are already "modern-looking." http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/07/instant_body_pl074861.html Ancient fossilized Cambrian jellies compared to modern jellies – pictures http://qvcproject.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-joys-of-jellies_2.html
Moreover, contrary to evolutionary thinking, Jellyfish appear to have essential purpose in preparing, and maintaining, the ecosystem for the Cambrian Explosion that was to follow.
Marine animals cause a stir - July 2009 Excerpt: Kakani Katija and John Dabiri used field measurements of jellyfish swimming in a remote island lake, combined with a new theoretical model, to demonstrate that the contribution of living organisms to ocean mixing via this mechanism is substantial — of the same order of magnitude as winds and tides. (Winds and tides, due to their prevention of stagnation, are known to be essential for life on earth.) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7255/edsumm/e090730-08.html Tracking a jellyfish’s movements with green dye. http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/2013-10/enhanced/webdr06/1/12/anigif_enhanced-buzz-8788-1380646258-32.gif
Plus, Jellyfish are incredibly advanced in their orientation abilities
Jellyfish Sense Their Environment for Controlled Migration - January 27, 2015 Excerpt: Jellyfish are not exactly the quarterbacks (or leatherbacks) of the animal kingdom, but they have surprised researchers with their ability to swim against the tide, just like baby leatherback turtles do. Scientists even think they may be able to sense the earth's magnetic field, as do turtles, salmon, birds, and other long-distance migrators.,,, "Jellyfish are not just bags of jelly drifting passively in the oceans," he adds. "They are incredibly advanced in their orientation abilities." http://www.evolutionnews.org/2015/01/jellyfish_sense093031.html
As well, Jellies are not opportunistic feeders but are ‘deliberately fishing’:
How a box jellyfish catches fish - June 3, 2015 Excerpt: The first feeding study of tropical Australia's Irukandji box jellyfish has found that they actively fish. They attract larval fish by twitching their extended tentacles, highlighting their nematocyst clusters (stinging structures) and using them as lures.,,, "This species is small, less than two centimeters (three-quarters of an inch) across the bell, they're 96% water, they lack a defined brain or central nervous system, and yet they're using their tentacles and nematocyst clusters like experienced fishers use their lines and lures," lead author Robert Courtney said. "They're not opportunistically grazing - they're deliberately fishing. They're targeting and catching fish that are at times as big as they are, and are far more complex animals. This is a really neat animal that is displaying a surprisingly complex prey capture strategy." http://phys.org/news/2015-06-jellyfish-fish.html
bornagain77
March 25, 2016
March
03
Mar
25
25
2016
02:28 PM
2
02
28
PM
PDT
a few notes:
Aliens of sea' provide new insight into evolution - May 22, 2014 Excerpt: in an in-depth look at the genes of 10 comb jelly species, researchers report that these mysterious creatures evolved a unique nervous system in a completely different way than the rest of the animal kingdom. In other words, the nervous system evolved more than once, a finding published Wednesday by the journal Nature that challenges long-standing theories about animal development. http://phys.org/news/2014-05-aliens-sea-insight-evolution.html#jCp Did Neurons Evolve Twice? - The comb jelly, a primitive marine creature, is forcing scientists to rethink how animals got their start. - March 25, 2015 Excerpt: According to traditional evolutionary biology, neurons evolved just once, hundreds of millions of years ago,,,, (but) comb jellies have a relatively alien neural system, employing different chemicals and architecture from our own. “When we look at the genome and other information, we see not only different grammar but a different alphabet,” Moroz said. https://www.quantamagazine.org/20150325-did-neurons-evolve-twice/
and neurons certainly aren't simple:
"Complexity Brake" Defies Evolution - August 8, 2012 Excerpt: Consider a neuronal synapse -- the presynaptic terminal has an estimated 1000 distinct proteins. Fully analyzing their possible interactions would take about 2000 years. Or consider the task of fully characterizing the visual cortex of the mouse -- about 2 million neurons. Under the extreme assumption that the neurons in these systems can all interact with each other, analyzing the various combinations will take about 10 million years..., even though it is assumed that the underlying technology speeds up by an order of magnitude each year. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/08/complexity_brak062961.html New fossils show ancient comb jellies had skeleton parts - July 13, 2015 Excerpt: Scientists have found over a hundred species of the creature in its modern form and not one of them has any sort of skeleton. That is why the find in China is so surprising, an early relative that lived approximately 520 million years ago (during the Cambrian Period), did have some bony parts. http://phys.org/news/2015-07-fossils-ancient-jellies-skeleton.html
of interest:
Comb Jellies - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7WT81ukHZE Edith Widder: Glowing life in an underwater world - video http://www.ted.com/talks/edith_widder_glowing_life_in_an_underwater_world.html Description: Some 80 to 90 percent of undersea creatures make light -- and we know very little about how or why. Bioluminescence expert Edith Widder explores this glowing, sparkling, luminous world, sharing glorious images and insight into the unseen depths (and brights) of the ocean.
bornagain77
March 25, 2016
March
03
Mar
25
25
2016
02:28 PM
2
02
28
PM
PDT
"But lesser organisms, such as sea anemones and jellyfish..." Just a small correction. There is no such thing as "lesser" or "more evolved". These terms, even used by biologists on occasion, give a false perception of how evolution works.Indiana Effigy
March 25, 2016
March
03
Mar
25
25
2016
11:54 AM
11
11
54
AM
PDT
But now William Browne of the University of Miami in Florida has found that one of those lesser forms, the comb jelly (which is supposed to long predate not only the through-gut design but even many of the other single-hole creatures because, after all, that is what the DNA evidence says), in fact has been operating a through-gut all along. Not quite as bad as a rabbit in the Cambrian. So no harm no foul.Mung
March 25, 2016
March
03
Mar
25
25
2016
11:38 AM
11
11
38
AM
PDT
But lesser organisms, such as sea anemones and jellyfish, send their waste back up and out, through the same hole that ingested the food. Obviously a horrible design. Therefore, ID is false.Mung
March 25, 2016
March
03
Mar
25
25
2016
11:36 AM
11
11
36
AM
PDT

Leave a Reply