Fish Communicate on Secure Channel

John 19:38

“And after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus….”

The Bible most frequently associates the idea of secret communications with something evil. But sometimes, God uses secret communication for His purpose, as He did when Joseph of Arimathea secretly went to Pilate to secure the body of Jesus.

God has also given some animals the ability to communicate secretly. Take, for example, the Swordtail fish – like the one you might have in your aquarium. In the wild, this fish has a problem. They share their habitat with the Mexican tetras that are an aggressive predator and favor a meal of Swordtail. Yet, like many other fish, the male Swordtail must conduct a conspicuous male courting dance to mate. Even so, at mating time while the male is conducting his dance, the aggressive tetras pay no extra attention to his show. Researchers were puzzled until they discovered that the Swordtail conducts his mating communication on a secure channel that the tetras cannot see. They found that Swordtails have a stripe down the length of their body that reflects ultraviolet light essential to their mating communications. Examination of the tetras’ eye lenses show that they cannot see ultraviolet light. So the tetras miss the whole show.

Now that the Swordtails’ secret is revealed, we have additional reason to appreciate the work of our Creator. Thankfully, He has revealed to those with eyes to see His greatest secret: Salvation.

Prayer: Father, thank You for revealing the secret of the plan of salvation in the Bible. Help me not to keep it a secret. Amen.

Author: Paul A. Bartz

Ref: Science News, 3/29/03, pp. 196-197, S. Milius, “Secret Signal.” Photo: Swordtail red-maile and female by Wojciech J. Płuciennik CC by SA 4.0