Some Amazing Fish Part 3
“Thou hast made . . . the seas, and all that is therein, and Thou preservest them all.” Nehemiah 9:66Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. (Nehemiah 9:6).
Many books have been written about amazing fish. We have already learned about a few of these fish in the last two articles. We will conclude with just a few more.
In Java a three-inch fish protects itself from enemies above by swimming upside down under a floating leaf drifting in the wind. In this position it is on the lookout for tiny minnows below, darting down and swallowing one or more before returning to its leaf cover.
A snail that crawls along the bottom, making its meals mainly from sponges, has a companion, a small shrimp, riding on its back. The shrimp snatches bits of food that are stirred up as the snail disturbs the sandy bottom.
Another free rider is the remora, which has a suction cup on top of its head by which it clings to the side or bottom of a shark or other large fish. Being lazy by nature, it is quite satisfied to live its entire life in this odd way, eating scraps of food which drop from the shark’s mouth.
The archerfish gets its name by the accuracy with which it shoots out a stream of water from its mouth (like the arrow of an archer) and captures an insect resting on a plant sometimes as much as 10 feet away! The sudden dousing from this water startles the insect from its perch and, its wings being too wet to fly, it drops to the water where the archerfish snaps it up.
The anabas of Africa can travel surprising distances over land seeking a new home when the water in which it normally lives dries up. The Creator has provided this unusual fish with “reservoirs” of water inside its body, enabling it to live during these travels.
When the female tipona lays eggs, her male companion immediately catches them in his mouth and carries them around for 11 days before they hatch and swim away.
Croakers have choruses which are not always pleasant to human ears. At La Jolla, California, from May to late September, they often begin “singing” about sunset. The volume of their “chorus” keeps increasing for two or three hours with a steady uproar and soft drumming sound in the background — sometimes quite annoying to people living nearby.
The Psalmist was one who walked close to the Lord and delighted in the things of His creation. He wrote, “I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember Thy wonders of old.” Psalm 77:1111I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. (Psalm 77:11). As you think of the grand scope of His creation, can you say, “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else”? Deuteronomy 4:3939Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. (Deuteronomy 4:39).
ML 03/11/1990