“When is a crab like a high-performance athletic shoe?” asks ScienceSHOTS, 20 April 2006.
The whole item states: “Pump it up. A crab relies on its rigid shell for protection and support, so it must quickly compensate when it moults. Marine crabs create a temporary exoskeleton by pumping their outer layers full of seawater. But what’s a land crab to do? Some take a cue from high-performance athletic shoes. The newly moulted blackback land crab (Gecarcinus lateralis) traps air within its gut and squeezes, firming up its entire body. Besides being the first known example of a gas-powered skeleton, the innovation may have been a key step in the evolution of land-based crustaceans, the researchers speculate in the 20 April issue of Nature.”
Editorial Comment: Unless an animal is already living on land it doesn’t need such an impressive gas pump mechanism. The fact that this mechanism works well for the land crab does not explain how it came about, nor does it explain how a water dwelling water powered crab changed into a land dwelling gas powered crab, but it is good evidence for purposeful creation! High performance gas pump athletic shoes are expensive because the manufacturers claim they have better design than their less expensive non gassed versions.
No-one would ever claim that gas pump athletic shoes came about by chance random processes, so it is foolish to claim that similar gas pump crabs evolved by chance. When Nike does a good job on a sports shoe–give them the credit. When Christ the Creator does a Good job –don’t forget to give him the Praise also.
30th August 2006
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