Glow, Little Octopus

John 8:12
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

The deep, dark depths of the ocean are filled with many varieties of luminescent creatures. But among the octopus there are only two or three species in which the females develop luminescent rings around their mouths. But that has all changed with a remarkable series of discoveries about an already-known species of octopus.
    
The red octopus, Stauroteuthis syrtensis, lives in the deep waters off the east coast of the United States. In 1997 a foot long specimen was being studied. When the scientists turned off the lights in the lab, they were amazed to see the octopus’s suckers glowing. The blue green glow, they discovered, glows brightest at 470 nanometers, a frequency that travels well under water. Scientists say that this glow might explain how the octopus makes its living. It doesn’t eat what most octopods eat. Rather, it eats tiny crustaceans whose shallow-water cousins are drawn to light. If the deep-water versions are drawn to light, all this clever little octopus needs to do to eat is turn on the porch light. The frequency of the light and the unusual diet of this octopus all provide evidence of God’s all wise design. If these special features had depended on chance to develop, this octopus would have never come about.
    
God is the Creator and Source of all light. The perfect light of His truth in the Gospel shines at just the “right frequency” to draw us to the forgiveness of sins and salvation found only in Jesus Christ.

Prayer:
Father in heaven, we thank You for the light of the Gospel which brings us to the light of the life Christ has won for us. Amen.

Notes:
S. Milius, “Octopus suckers glow in the deep, dark sea,” Science News, March 13, 1999, v. 155, p. 167. Photo: Stauroteuthis syrtensis.