Barreleyes - Creation Moments

Jeremiah 32:27
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”

Almost all sighted animals that aren’t insects see with eyeballs. But that is not true of a fish named barreleyes, and that’s for a good reason.

Barreleyes has that name because instead of eyeballs, the fish sees through tubes. The fish live a third of a mile below the surface, so studying them in detail was not possible until the last few decades. Barreleyes can move its eyetubes in different directions, depending on what it wants to look at. Even stranger, the eyetubes are inside the forehead and do not come into contact with the water at all. How can it see if its vision organs are inside its head? It has a transparent forehead filled with transparent liquid. What is the purpose of such a strange arrangement? Scientists believe that barreleyes eat siphonophores, which are jellyfish-like creatures that sting. The transparent forehead protects its eyes from getting stung.

Barreleyes’ uniquely designed eyes are impossible to explain with gradual evolutionary modifications of regular fish eyes. Yet, they are well designed for barreleye’s unusual way of making a living. As Scripture reminds us several times, nothing is too hard for God. As we read Scripture’s record of what God has done in the past and what He has promised He still will do, especially for His people, this reminder is a comfort.

Prayer: Father, when I read of what You have promised me, remind me that nothing is too hard for You. Amen.

Author: Paul A. Bartz

Ref: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41732, Susan Millius, “Barreleye peers at the world like a fighter pilot does through a windshield.” Image: Opisthoproctus soleatus, a species of barreleye. (PD)