Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Botanist Margaret Helder asks: How can a “simple” or “primitive” sponge surprise engineers with its optimal physics?

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Live glass sponges are a relatively recent discovery:

It is not every day that one discovers living organisms which were formerly known only as fossils. One such remarkable story took place off the northwest coast of British Columbia (Canada) where some glass sponge reefs were first detected. Canadian scientists mapping the seafloor near Vancouver Island came across some signals suggesting that there were huge, mysterious mounds on the sediments below them. That was 1987. Upon further investigation, the scientists discovered that the mounds were, in fact, reefs made up of glass sponges. The reefs, in 200 meters of water, covered about 1000 square kilometers of sea floor and rose as high as a seven-story building. The really remarkable thing, however, is that these glass sponge reefs had formerly been known only as fossil deposits such as enormous cliffs stretching on land from Portugal to Romania. According to standard geological dating, these reefs are found in rock strata identified as Triassic to Eocene.1 No such reefs were known in the sea today. But here they were, reefs made up of some living creatures and some skeletons of once living specimens…

It is obvious that the glass sponges live in a habitat which involves special challenges. They mostly grow as solitary individuals or small clumps at depths of 1500-3000 feet (450-900 m). The body is anchored to soft sediments on the sea floor, not the best substrate for maintaining one’s position. The problem is compounded by the average water currents in the first 30 cm or 12 inches above the sea bed. Here the currents move at 0 – 11 cm per second or about 6 m to 20 feet per minute.15 How do these animals survive in this habitat? A team of Italian and American scientists researching this topic declared that the sponges display “exceptional structural properties” which enable them to thrive. In fact, their study reveals “mechanisms of extraordinary adaptation to live in the abyss.”16 They were able to make these statements because they had carried out experiments on this capability.

Margaret Helder, “Glass sponges: Lessons from the deep” at Creation–Evolution Headlines

Move along, folks. No design to see here.

Stasis: Life goes on but evolution does not happen

Comments
"Optimal Physics" seems like a poor choice of terms. Rather the sponges are designed optimally to apply the relevant physics for their overall, long-term benefit; i.e. it is not the physics that is optimal, but the design, or engineering of the sponges. And before arguing that their design is somehow suboptimal, you need to know ALL the factors affecting their design and behaviour, not just your own narrow view of what makes for a good sponge.Fasteddious
August 12, 2021
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the good thing is, that Darwinian biologists - natural science graduates who never made anything - are never surprised ... because they believe in miracles ... a miracle after a miracle after a miracle ... PS: even if this sponge could speak English, Darwinian biologists explain it away ... because they are very talented story-tellers ...martin_r
August 11, 2021
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