RufusAtticus

I went to eat at Red Lobster the other day. I was looking at their pictures of fish and realized that flounder are a perfect example of evolution. What intelligent designer would create a bottom dwelling fish that swims on its side? There are plenty flat fish that don’t have this peculiar body plan. Flounder are so strangely designed that an eye actually migrates from one side of the head to the other, as it becomes an adult. Why too did the designer decide to make both left and right flounders? The only reasonable conclusion is that flounder are not the result of an intelligent designer, but biological evolution.

<a href="http://search.ebi.eb.com/ebi/article/0,6101,33775,00.html" target="_blank">http://search.ebi.eb.com/ebi/article/0,6101,33775,00.html</a>

scigirl

Cool web site, Rufus. So, is it a good or bad thing that some of us are constantly thinking about this evo/cre debate?? I was thinking along similar lines as I studied for my thesis defense. I was reading about microbes that cause disease, and I wondered why creationists never use these nasty organisms for evidence of their perfect and loving God?

I could just see the article: "The fact that rotavirus is such a perfectly designed virus, which perfectly binds to our small intestinal cells, and perfectly causes diarrhea in little innocent kids, is proof that my benevolent god exists!"

scigirl

hyzer

Yes, the family of flounders is really cool. However, I am waiting for one of the YEC’s to post the question / statement (along these lines)

“Flat fishs is obviously Gods design, because how can you prove how evilution would have a fish with an eye that moves? How did the eye know to move?”

Sorry, spell check back on, return to rational thought processes.

bluefugue

I agree, the flounder is one of the most persuasive bits of evidence I have seen for evolution. Dawkins talks about it in "The Blind Watchmaker." Basically you have an organism whose heritage is still visible in its current anatomy.

Of course, it doesn't falsify an intelligent designer. Nothing possibly can. "God was in a whimsical mood the day he made the flounder." Yep, I'm convinced.

Oolon Colluphid

There’s around 600 species bony flat fish (order Pleuronectiformes), so god wasn’t just dabbling in odd designs. Seeeing these things at aquariums is what got me interested in evolution in the first, er, plaice.

I rather like this pic of their development:



Cheers, Oolon

butswana

As far as flounder goes, I'm more interested in the chef than the designer.

Coragyps

Oolon said:
Seeeing these things at aquariums is what got me interested in evolution in the first, er, plaice.

I say:
Phew! <img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" />

bluefugue

Maybe somebody should make a children's book about "Floppy the Flounder," to compete with the Creationists' "Bomby the Bombardier Beetle" book...