Blind Design

Cave Fish Illustration by Katie Compton

Scientists keep finding “evolution in action” that clearly is not evolution at all but sophisticated design. The latest example is blind cave fish.

Eyes and the brainpower to operate them drain energy. But energy is limited in lightless caves, where it would be better applied to other senses. What keeps fish in caves from growing eyes?

In 2013, researchers found that cave environments inhibit a protein in cave fish embryos, reducing eye growth. But that’s not all. A new study reveals they also trigger cellular machinery to add chemical tags (called methyl groups) that “turn off” genes for growing eyes. So cave fish go blind, but their DNA may not change.

Then if the fish leave the cave, their eye-growing genes are reactivated, and their offspring develop eyes. It’s not one-way evolution but the Creator’s complex design that allows fish to do their part to “fill the waters” as he commanded, whether in caves or above ground (Genesis 1:22).

This article was taken from Answers magazine, January–February, 2018, pg 31.