Color it Blue

Suppose you met eight people who looked and talked so much like each other that you could hardly tell them apart. You would probably think they were closely related. But what if they lived in eight different cities hundreds of miles from each other, and they lacked any family connection? How could you explain the startling resemblance?

That’s the puzzle facing biologists who are studying tarantulas. They have found that 40 out of 53 genera of tarantulas exhibit a nearly identical brilliant blue color. All of them fall within a very tight wavelength range of 20 nanometers. Interestingly, the microscopic structures that reflect light to produce this brilliant blue are very different from one species to another. They are so varied that the researchers conclude they would have had to evolve independently at least eight times in tarantulas separated by hundreds of miles.

Evolutionary scientists often explain such seeming coincidences as “convergent evolution.” The idea is that different animals supposedly evolve identical characteristics independently when they face a similar survival need. Convergent evolution is extremely improbable under the best of conditions. But in this case, researchers are hard pressed to find any advantage for this color to converge on the same wavelength. For example, it has nothing to do with attracting a mate, since tarantula eyes probably can’t even distinguish this shade of blue.

Rather than believing that blind evolution caused tarantulas to develop the same cobalt blue again and again, there is a simpler explanation. The tarantulas’ infinitely creative Designer gave them their brilliant hue. He may have created several tarantula kinds, each with a different mechanism for producing the color. Or He may have put the information for the different structures in the genes of one original kind.

In any case, the glory goes to the Creator for His creative genius. This brilliant blue beauty could not arise by chance even once. But God brought the same hue into being at least eight different ways. If we refuse to see Him in His creation, we are truly without excuse.

bbc.com