Surprise! Deep-Sea Fish See Colors | The Institute for Creation Research

Surprise! Deep-Sea Fish See Colors

Only sunlight’s most intense color (blue) penetrates beyond 180 meters (590 feet) through clear ocean waters. Everyone knows that fish below such depths see an essentially black-and-white world. Only everyone is now wrong. New genetic insights provide a renewed appreciation of the Creator’s ingenuity.

Deep-sea fish eyes come loaded with light-sensitive rod cells instead of the mixture of rods and color-sensitive cone cells surface-dwellers like us use. Our cone cells have three different pigments to detect the three primary colors. For humans and many vertebrates, various color intensities combine to generate the thousands of specific colors our visual systems perceive.

The dragonfish (Bathophilus nigerrimus) bares its spiky teeth to snatch prey.
Image credit: Copyright © 2019 Atlas Obscura. Used in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holder.

Our rod cells have only one pigment. These cells detect brightness in dim conditions but not colors, which means that in the dark our world is monochrome. Surely fish eyes without cone cells would see no colors. But research published in the journal Science found that some deep-sea fish eyes use various pigments…in their rod cells.1

Clearly, these fish swim in a deep, dark, but somehow colorful world. But why?

The researchers found rod cell pigment genes in 13 of the 101 fishes tested so far. Are they just evolutionary missteps—nature’s blind experiments that accidentally acted on actinopterygians (ray-finned fish)? Or do these genes serve a specific purpose through the intent of insightful intelligence?

The research seems to support the second option. University of Maryland biology professor Karen Carleton said in a university news release on the study, “It may be that their vision is highly tuned to the different colors of light emitted from the different species they prey on.”2

But these creatures’ equipment goes beyond special rod cells. All kinds of different sea creatures bioluminesce, or make their own light.3 This neat trick requires a very precise lineup of biochemicals to convert chemical currency into radiation. Human inventors long to match its efficiency. Of course, none of it would work without a specialized layer of clear skin cells to protect the underlying light-emitters while letting the light out.

More than that, bioluminescent creatures of all kinds—jellyfish, squid, clams, shrimp, fish, etc.—use precise biochemicals to emit specific colors. And now it looks like these newly discovered fish-eye rod cell pigments help the creatures see exactly the emitted color or colors of the prey they target. One fantastic fish called the silver spinyfin has 38 specific rod cell pigment genes. Can it see 38 specific deep-sea creatures’ colors?

The university news release said, “The specific wavelength of light their opsins [light-sensitive proteins] are tuned to overlap with the spectrum of light emitted by the bioluminescent creatures that share their habitat.”2

So, these eyes come fully tuned. Tuning requires a tuner. Whoever sees evolutionary accidents here may be dimming their own access to a broader spectrum of God’s fine-tuning in creation.

References

  1. Musilova, Z. et al. 2019. Vision using multiple distinct rod opsins in deep-sea fishes. Science. 364 (6440): 588-592.
  2. For Some Fish Deep and Dark May Still be Colorful. University of Maryland news release. Posted on umdrightnow.umd.edu May 10, 2019, accessed May 10, 2019.
  3. Thomas, B. 2013. The Unpredictable Pattern of Bioluminescence. Acts & Facts. 42 (4): 17.

* Dr. Thomas is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in paleobiochemistry from the University of Liverpool.

Cite this article: Brian Thomas, Ph.D. 2019. Surprise! Deep-Sea Fish See Colors. Acts & Facts. 48 (7).

The Latest
NEWS
Creation's Easter Message
While many Christians still consider the creation doctrine a fringe issue, a proper understanding of the Christian message finds creation at its core...

NEWS
ICR Veteran Don Barber Retires
Don Barber   After 34 years with the Institute for Creation Research, Director of Enterprise Technology Don Barber will retire...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
The Sanctity of Life | Creation.Live Podcast: Episode 23
Abortion is a big issue culturally and in the church. How can believers love our neighbors and act as the hands and feet of Christ when it comes...

NEWS
Plant Receptors Are Designed to Control Immunity and Development
God has designed plants to continuously track their environment.1 They do so with specially designed detectors (also called receptors) on...

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,...