Oldest crayfish lived in warm world according a press release from Emory University, 5 February 2008. A group of American and Australian researchers have found fossil crayfish and fossils burrows in Mesozoic rocks dated 115 million years old. The fossil burrows are “nearly identical to those made by modern crayfish in southeastern Australia.” Anthony Martin of Emory University commented: “Comparing these fossil burrows to those made by modern crayfish in Australia shows us that their behaviour hasn’t changed that much.” Crayfish are found worldwide and scientists from Thomas Huxley (an early promoter of Darwin’s theories) onwards have wondered how they could be so widespread when they cannot survive in saltwater. Some scientists have tried to explain it with the theory that all the continents were once joined together. Recently molecular biologists have suggested that all southern hemisphere crayfish originated in southeast Australia.
Anthony Martin who led the study commented: “The evolution of Southern Hemisphere crayfish has challenged researchers since the 1870s. Only now, 140 years later, are we starting to put together the physical evidence for this evolution through the discovery of fossils.” The press release also comments that the Mesozoic era, when the crayfish lived “is of particular interest to scientists since it is believed to be the last time the Earth experienced pronounced global warming, with an average temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit – just 10 degrees warmer than today.”
Editorial Comment: We wonder what those on the global warning bandwagon think caused 10 degrees of global warming, ( which is far in excess of the current warming ), having occurred at a time when the evolutionists among them would not be able to blame man’s cars or factories? Scientists would be less challenged if they left aside the evolutionary assumptions and noted that the facts about fossil and living crayfish fit better into Biblical history where God made one ocean and one continent and made living creatures to multiply after their kinds (Genesis 1-2). During Noah’s flood many creatures would have been would have been wiped out, but some would have survived in pockets of freshwater scattered all over the world. During the Post Flood ice ages, when seas levels were low and many of the landmasses and rivers were joined, crayfish could have spread further afield without having to survive in saltwater. The fossil findings described above simply provide more evidence that Genesis is true and it is no surprise to find crayfish all over the world, whose fossils appear to be the same as living crayfish (Ref. crustaceans, climate change, arthropods)
Evidence News 13February 2008