A Cage of Light

Ask any evolutionist, and he will tell you that the Venus Flower Basket is one of the least-evolved animals. This animal is actually a sponge that is made up of a colony of creatures, and it does some amazing things.

The Venus Flower Basket builds a basket-like skeleton made up of glass-like silica covered only by a thin layer of cells. The intricate internal structure of this skeleton is reinforced to provide the greatest strength using the least amount of material. The resulting skeleton turns out to be a fiber optic network whose sophistication has been compared to modern fiber optics used for telecommunications networks.

Symbiotic luminescent microorganisms make a home inside the base of the sponge, sending their light throughout the Flower Basket’s fiber optic skeleton. The Flower Basket traps shrimp inside this skeleton, where they spend their entire lives. The food they drop feeds those luminescent microorganisms at the bottom of the basket. The purpose of the light pulses is to attract prey to feed the shrimp, who, in turn, feed the source of the light pulses! All of this is even more impressive, given the fact that the Flower Basket has no nervous system whatsoever.

That this beautiful creature with no nervous system is designed and works in such an intricate manner is a powerful testimony to our Creator, the only One Who could design this.

Psalm 27:1
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Prayer: Father, in the beginning, You created light which brings beauty, but nothing like the beauty of Your salvation. Amen.

Ref: Discover, 8/05, pp. 42-47, George M. Whitesides, “Illuminated Life.” Photo: Euplectella Aspergillum Vnus flower sponge (PD) NOAA