Fossil Fish Sheds Light on Transition

The New York Times ^ | April 5, 2006 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[ZULU]

Probably.

Plug in Clarias batrachus into an search engine.

But the walking catfish and this critter have very little in common osteologically.

What the article here does not present is the detailed osteological analysis which has been done on fish of this nature. later primitive amphibians and primitive reptiles
and primitive and modern mammals.

The fossil evidence indicates that if they didn't follow a progressive evolution along the lines we suspect, more or less, the Almighty has decided to play quite a joke on us for no apparent reasons.

[TastyManatees]

Wow, evolution threads really bring out the ID folks.

I actually think it's a little endearing when people mention "circumstantial" evidence when they have NO idea what the term actually means. To illustrate, if there's no "direct evidence" of a murder (such as an eyewitness), is it o.k. to convict based on circumstantial evidence such as blood stains on the defendant's clothing, the presence of his fingerprints on a gun or knife, and presence of DNA samples from the defendant on the victim? Sounds sort of convincing to me, but then again, I know what the term "circumstantial" means...

By the way, I assume everyone has "direct" evidence of God's existence to back up this intelligent design hackery. By that, I mean, you have a LIVING person willing to testify that they met/saw/heard from God Almighty Himself. Someone whose believability/sanity we can judge for ourselves. Otherwise, it seems sort of silly to denigrate "circumstantial" evidence when the only evidence you have for your own theory is circumstantial.

(By the way, I believe in God, have FAITH in Him, and fear Him enough not to ascribe an asinine theory like intelligent design to Him.)

[ZULU]

I'm not quite sure what intelligent design means.

I believe in God and I think there is enough circumstantial evidence to convince any jury on earth (except perhaps a Muslim one) that evolution is a fact.

Belief in God and the Bible, and belief in evolution are not mutually exclusive.

[labette]

Artist's conception from MSN version of article.

[roadrunner96]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4902784.stm

Good story, I am not sure if this is a related story and easily could have had it's own thread;

Excerpt:

"The first time we saw it, we were amazed - it was really spectacular
Sam Van Wassenbergh, University of Antwerp
Scientists have described a fish that can hunt and catch its prey on land.
The eel catfish, Channallabes apus , is found in the muddy swamps of the tropics of western Africa.

The 30-40cm-long (12-16in) fish is able to propel itself out of the water and bend its head downwards to capture insects in its jaws.

The Belgian researchers, writing in the journal Nature, hope this discovery will help to explain how fish moved from sea to land millions of years ago.

Beetle eater

With a small head and a long, flexible body, C. apus has an eel-like appearance.

The fish's diet provided the scientists with the first clue to its remarkable behaviour - it mainly eats beetles which are found on land.


After an expedition to study the fish in its swampy habitat in Gabon, Africa, the team brought some of the animals back to Belgium for further research.
They placed the fish in a specially designed aquarium with both wet and muddy areas, mimicking C. apus's natural environment.

"We pointed high-speed video cameras towards the place where we had left the prey and waited until the fish was hungry enough to leave the water and catch it," explained Sam Van Wassenbergh, an author on the Nature paper and a biologist from the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

"The first time we saw it, we were amazed - it was really spectacular."

The fish captures its prey by propelling itself onto the shore, raising the front part of its body and bending its head downwards over the insect.


Usually, the fish uses suction to feed underwater; but because air is much less dense than water, the fish needs to employ a new strategy to catch its food."