“Thou [the Lord] host made... the seas, and all that is therein, and Thou preservest them all.” Nehemiah 9:6.
There are some 20,000 kinds of fish throughout the world, and to write about all of them would fill many bookshelves. Here are some interesting facts about three kinds.
The archer fish is a six-inch resident of the East Indian waters and is very clever at catching its food. This little fish waits near the surface of the water until a low-flying insect appears. It then shoots drops of water out of its round mouth at the insect, like a person shooting arrows at a bird. If the water hits the insect its wings become wet, so it cannot fly. When it falls into the water, it is eaten by the archer fish. How did these fish learn to do this? No practice was necessary, for the Creator gave them this skill way back on the fifth day of creation when He created the very first archer fish.
Instead of laying eggs at the bottom of a marshy pond where it lives, the egg hanger fish hangs them on sticky threads suspended from underwater plants. The female produces one string of this sticky thread for each egg she lays. With the egg firmly stuck to one end, she attaches the other end over the plant so it can hang down freely. She continues until there are about 150 of them, all hanging separately in the swampy water. Then she swims away and does not return.
But don’t worry about them. They don’t need her care, for the One “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3) watches over them just as He does when they hatch and swim away.
The splashing tetra is a three-inch fish found in Brazil and Venezuela. When the female is ready to lay her eggs, she searches for a bush with leaves hanging over, but not in, the water. Then she jumps up and lays the eggs on a big leaf before dropping back to the water. Doesn’t this seem strange? Wouldn’t you expect the eggs to dry out and die? That would certainly be true, except that we can see it is another of the wonders of the Lord God who made such interesting varieties in His many creatures.
The eggs don’t die, because both parents stay in the water under the leaf and, with flips of their tails, continually splash water on them. After three or four days the little ones hatch and drop into the water, and the parents swim away.
These unusual fish are not able to think of the One who made them and provides for them. But you can, and God has given you the responsibility to acknowledge Him and thank Him for supplying all your needs. What is more important, He invites us in His Word, the Bible, to accept the everlasting life He offers. This can only be had through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on Calvary’s cross to put away the sins of all who trust in Him. His Word tells us “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27. Have you realized that you are a lost sinner and accepted Him as your Saviour and so come under His loving care?
ML-07/03/1983