Fish That Produce Electricity -2

The Angler Fish

This fish, which lives at depths of 13124 feet, has been given the name of the angler fish. This is because it employs a similar method to the way that fishermen use brightly colored rods to attract fish. A light-emitting rod protrudes from immediately above its head. This light is most attractive to cuttlefish, for instance, which imagine it to be a tiny fish.

The hunting technique employed by the angler fish is the product of a superior intelligence. It is not possible for the fish to produce light in its cells at will and then to use that light as it wishes. This system is the work of the Almighty God, its creator.

The Night Vision of the Malacosteid Fish

In order to hunt at this depth and in dark waters, fish have also been equipped with other systems. Some fish even have headlights which illuminate the area in front of them, like beneath the eyes of the malacosteid fish. This is no ordinary light, but one with a very special purpose. The light is red. Yet other fish do not perceive that red light. In this way, this equipment gives the malacosteid fish night vision without being seen itself.

The Defense Tactic of the Shrimp

Biological light is also used for defense purposes as well as for attack: just as happens with the way this shrimp defends itself. When the shrimp senses danger and its predator goes into action, it squirts out chemicals into its face, brightly illuminating the surrounding water. In the extreme darkness of the deep ocean, this light blinds the predator and allows enough time for the shrimp to escape.

The way that the shrimp employs such a defense tactic leads us to the fact of creation. The shrimp cannot know which chemicals to use, nor how. Neither can it manage the fine tuning necessary to delay the chemical reaction until it senses danger. God, the Almighty and the All-Wise, Who knows everything, has created the shrimp together with its defense system.

The Ostracod

This ostracod is no larger than a bean, yet since it has one of the sharpest senses of sight of all fish in the dark, it represents a great peril. Its favorite prey is a kind of plankton known as “copepods.” Copepods produce light in order to communicate with one another. The ostracod approaches them by following these light emissions as they go on and off. Yet the copepod also has its own defense tactic. When danger approaches it squirts clouds of light as a decoy to predators. Confused, the ostracod starts following the other sources of light, while the copepod escapes in the darkness.

Light-production is these creatures' most important weapon. They use light for both attack and defense purposes. This system evidently comes about as the result of a series of chemical reactions. Yet such a system cannot be explained either in terms of chance or of the knowledge and free will of this creature. It is the Almighty God Who flawlessly shapes these light-producing creatures in this environment.

The depths of the ocean are like a fairground … Millions of sea creatures, with all their very different designs, live in the oceans. These creatures in the depths of the oceans remained a secret for thousands of years, but they have enormous significance for people in the present day, who are able to observe them. This great variety is a means whereby mankind can once again see and understand that the almighty God Who created them possesses infinite might and knowledge.

Glory be to Him Who created all the pairs: from what the earth produces and from themselves and from things unknown to them. (Qur'an, 36: 36)