An Extraordinary New Carnivorous Sponge

Of related note to the intelligent Design of sponges (and jellyfish): Interestingly, 'soft-bodied' Jellyfish and Sponges appeared suddenly in the fossil record a few ten million years before the Cambrian Explosion, and have remained virtually unchanged in their basic form since they first appeared in the fossil record. Moreover, contrary to evolutionary thinking, Jellyfish and Sponges appear to have essential 'terra-forming' purpose in preparing the ecosystem of the earth for the Cambrian Explosion that was to follow.

Marine animals cause a stir - July 2009 Excerpt: Kakani Katija and John Dabiri used field measurements of jellyfish swimming in a remote island lake, combined with a new theoretical model, to demonstrate that the contribution of living organisms to ocean mixing via this mechanism is substantial — of the same order of magnitude as winds and tides. (Winds and tides, due to their prevention of stagnation, are known to be essential for life on earth.) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7255/edsumm/e090730-08.html Picture of Jellyfish exhibiting bioluminescence: http://www.holisticprimarycare.net/images/stories/topics_healthy_aging/Aequorea-2.jpg Sponges Determine Coral Reef's Nutrient Cycle Excerpt: Sponges, which have worldwide distribution in the oceans, filter water. They take up planktonic particles such as bacteria and excrete inorganic nutrients. In turn, these nutrients can facilitate the growth of marine plants and other organisms. Sponges filter water at a phenomenal rate: if the seawater were to remain stationary, the sponges would have completely pumped it away within five minutes,,,, these organisms play a key role in the marine nutrient cycle due to their incredible capacity to convert enormous quantities of organic plankton into inorganic material (nutrients). http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050917085649.htm

Fossils of all types of sponges alive today have been found virtually unchanged in rocks dated from 635 to 580 million years ago. Moreover, sponges with photosynthesizing endosymbionts produce up to three times more oxygen than they consume, as well as more organic matter than they consume (Wikipedia).

Barrel and Chimney Sponges Filtering Water - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7E1rq7zHLc

Sponges demonstrate extreme stasis of morphology (conservation of shape), throughout the hundreds of millions of years they have been in the fossil record, and because they are 'soft-bodied' they present a huge problem for the Cambrian explosion:

Challenging Fossil of a Little Fish Excerpt: What they had actually proved was that Chinese phosphate is fully capable of preserving whatever animals may have lived there in Precambrian times. Because they found sponges and sponge embryos in abundance, researchers are no longer so confident that Precambrian animals were too soft or too small to be preserved. “I think this is a major mystery in paleontology,” said Chen. “Before the Cambrian, we should see a number of steps: differentiation of cells, differentiation of tissue, of dorsal and ventral, right and left. But we don’t have strong evidence for any of these.” Taiwanese biologist Li was also direct: “No evolution theory can explain these kinds of phenomena.” http://www.fredheeren.com/boston.htm Response to John Wise - October 2010 "So, where then are those ancestors? Fossil preservation conditions were adequate to preserve animals such as jellyfish, corals, and sponges, as well as the Ediacaran fauna. It does not appear that scarcity is a fault of the fossil record." Sean Carroll developmental biologist http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/10/response_to_john_wise038811.html

further notes:

More Questions for Evolutionists - August 2010 Excerpt: First of all, we have 65% of the gene number of humans in little old sponges—an organism that appears as far back as 635 million years ago, about as old as you can get [except for bacteria]. This kind of demolishes Darwin’s argument about what he called the pre-Silurian (pre-Cambrian). 635 mya predates both the Cambrian AND the Edicarian, which comes before the Cambrian (i.e., the pre-Cambrian) IOW, out of nowhere, 18,000 animal genes. Darwinian gradualism is dealt a death blow here (unless you’re a ‘true believer”!). Here’s a quote: “It means there was an elaborate machinery in place that already had some function. What I want to know now is what were all these genes doing prior to the advent of sponge.” (Charles Marshall, director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley.) I want to know, too! https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/more-questions-for-evolutionists/ Explosion of the Blob - August 2010 Excerpt: 'By saying that nearly one-third of the genetic toolkit “emerged” in a blank period before the fossils of the first actual sponge, and that the changes “occurred” in undescribed “sponge-like forebears,” Mann shielded the fact that there is not only no evidence for such an ancestor, but no known mechanism by which genes with foresight would have emerged in single-celled creatures.' http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201008.htm#20100805a

Note of interest:

What are Some Bioluminescent Animals? http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-bioluminescent-animals.htm

bornagain77

November 10, 2012

November

11

Nov

10

10

2012

01:54 AM

1

01

54

AM

PDT

Copy Comment Link

Yes I agree it is clear that you just don't understand evolution, random purposeless forces really can do anything but clearly a mind that has thought this out can not.Andre

November 10, 2012

November

11

Nov

10

10

2012

12:36 AM

12

12

36

AM

PDT

Copy Comment Link

Dr. Hunter, I can only conclude that you do not understand evolution at all, or deliberately choose to misrepresent it (not that it matters, unless it's to increase your reproductive fitness). As wd40 has aptly pointed out in another thread, stuff happens, and that's all that's required for evolution.Mung

November 9, 2012

November

11

Nov

9

09

2012

10:25 PM

10

10

25

PM

PDT

Copy Comment Link