Fish Scales and Body Armor Design | The Institute for Creation Research

Fish Scales and Body Armor Design

The U.S. Army is looking at fish for the future of body armor design. MIT investigators have uncovered some of the secrets of construction that enable fish scales to be lightweight, sturdy, flexible, and effective in repelling punctures.1

They used a variety of techniques to study the bony scales of the unique African freshwater Polypterus senegalus, which is reputed to have existed unchanged for 65 million years. It is a “living fossil,” with ancestors fossilized in cretaceous rocks.

Polypterus has diamond-shaped “ganoid” scales, each of which is comprised of a series of layers, like in a sandwich. The basement layer is a thin platy bone, and on top of that lies spongy bone, then cosmine (a hard mineral like dentine in teeth), and then shiny ganoin enamel that is secreted by the outer skin. The studies showed that not only does each layer offer a unique contribution to the overall strength of the scale, but that the layers are micro-stitched to one another to keep them from peeling apart.

Leo Smith of The Field Museum in Chicago, who was not involved in the research, said, “That doesn't surprise me that millions of years or hundreds of millions of years of evolution would be a good starting point for what we need for this day and age.”2 He referred to fish armor as having “been sort of fine-tuned during that time for different aspects.” But what evidence supports this assertion?

Ganoid scales appear in the fossil record suddenly and fully-formed, with no stepwise transitional scales either in the rock record or in living specimens. In addition, Polypterus senegalus surely should have evolved into something else by now, considering the fact that the extinct robust predators of its past—which presumably provided the necessary selective pressure to drive the evolution of these scales—have been missing for eons. Why does it still have its beefy armor, if there is no longer an evolutionary need for it? As a LiveScience report stated, “The armor may be overkill.”2

Honest researchers admit the dilemma: “Polypterus is an interesting relic….There is no satisfactory explanation for the survival to the present of certain fishes such as this one….”3 Rather than demonstrating evolution, Polypterus reflects the biblical reality that animals reproduce “after their kind,”4 and reveals ingenious design that must have required more than mutations over long periods of time for its construction.

References

  1. Bruet, B .J. F. et al. Materials design principles of ancient fish armour. Nature Materials. Published on Nature.com July 27, 2008, accessed July 29, 2008.
  2. Bryner, J.Incredible Fish Armor Could Suit Soldiers. Posted on LiveScience.com July 27, 2008, accessed July 29, 2008.
  3. Hickman, C. P. et al. 1997. Integrated Principles of Zoology, 10th ed. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 512-513.
  4. Genesis 1:21.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer.

Article posted on August 5, 2008.

The Latest
CREATION PODCAST
Homo Naledi: The Lies Behind Evolution's Rising Star | The Creation...
Homo naledi, once evolution's 'rising star,' was considered to be a prime example of human evolution. But is it really proof? Or...

NEWS
A Subsurface Ocean on Mimas?
Scientists have analyzed data obtained from the Cassini spacecraft and concluded that irregularities in the orbit of Saturn’s moon Mimas indicate...

NEWS
In Theaters March 20 & 21: The Ark and the Darkness
Is Genesis true? What about Noah’s Flood? How did Noah fit the animals on the ark? Wasn’t it a local flood? Have you asked these questions? Though...

NEWS
Enigmatic Fossil Plants
The pre-Flood world thousands of years ago was unlike the world of today.1 Unfamiliar animals and plants were common, and there were a lot...

NEWS
Surprisingly Colorful Fossil Snail Shells
Finding organic compounds such as flexible dinosaur collagen and complete bone cells1,2 is becoming common, much to the shock and consternation...

NEWS
March 2024 ICR Wallpaper
"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said." (Matthew 28:6 NKJV) ICR March 2024 wallpaper is now available for mobile, tablet,...

CREATION PODCAST
Homo Erectus: The Shocking Truth About the "Ape Man"...
Homo erectus, or "Upright Man," has been upheld as a piece of mankind's "evolutionary history" since its discovery in 1891....

NEWS
Mystery of Moths' Warning Sound
Insects of all types continue to amaze entomologists with their design and physiology. Cleveland Hickman, Jr., et al. stated, “insect ears are...

NEWS
Geneticist Fired for Affirming Humans Once Lived 900 Years?
Geneticist Alexander Kudryavtsev, the head of the Russian Academy of Science’s Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, has been fired, reportedly...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Solar Eclipses
Designed by Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover fun facts...