The Uniqueness of Life Forms
"Sea Horse" An Amazing Creation
"Seahorse (also written sea-horse and sea horse) is the name given to 45 species of small marine fishes in the genus Hippocampus. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek hippokampos (ἱππόκαμπος hippókampos), itself from hippos (ἵππος híppos) meaning "horse" and kampos (κάμπος kámpos) meaning "sea monster".Having a head and neck suggestive of a horse, seahorses also feature segmented bony armour, an upright posture and a curled..."appendage.
Habitat "Seahorses are mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate saltwater throughout the world, from about 45°S to 45°N . They live in sheltered areas such as sea grass beds, estuaries, coral reefs, and mangroves. Four species are found in Pacific waters from North America to South America. In the Atlantic, H. erectus ranges from Nova Scotia to Uruguay. H. zosterae, known as the dwarf seahorse, is found in the Bahamas. Colonies have been found in European waters such as the Thames Estuary.
Three species live in the Mediterranean Sea: H. guttulatus (the long-snouted seahorse), H. hippocampus (the short-snouted seahorse), and H. fuscus (the sea pony). These species form territories; males stay within 1 m2 (11 sq ft) of habitat, while females range about one hundred times that." From Wikipedia. Pix US Government public domain on Wikipedia. The assumptions of evolution: 1) assumed derivation from pipe fish: “While the discovery of a fossil of the 'missing link' would clarify the transition from a horizontally-swimming pipefish-like fish to the upright-swimming seahorse, such a fossil is not necessary to understand how seahorses evolved. Many pipe fishes have changed little since their earliest appearance in the fossil record, and it is very likely that the 'missing link' that gave rise to seahorses also has living descendants that still look very much like their ancestor.” From: www.molecularecology.flinders.edu.au/uploads/54834/ufiles/pdf/54-seahorse.pdf Nov/Dec 2009. 2) assumed expansion from pipe fish to seahorse then attachment of a male to seaweed and spread across the oceans/seas of the earth.Above reference. (This point is plausible post flood but not it's association with the change from pipe fish to seahorse.) The fossil record: "Seahorses (Syngnathidae: Hippocampus) are iconic marine teleosts that are readily identifiable by their upright posture. The fossil record is inadequate to shed light on the evolution of this trait because it lacks transitional forms...using sequence data from five nuclear loci, we confirm the sister taxon relationship between seahorses and pygmy pipe horses. Molecular dating indicates that the two taxa diverged during the Late Oligocene." Bold letters by JGL. From Biol Lett. 2009 Aug 23; 5(4): 521–523.
The assumptions of evolution: 1) No fossil transition forms and yet assumed to have existed, 2) sequence data of living forms compared and some similarities-thus assuming that from the partial DNA data the two different life forms are progenitor related, 3) age of the fossils as being from the Oligocene. Many Creation geologists have shown the problems with dating of geologic strata. (See Dr Andrew Snelling Links below).
JGL comment: Please note the lack of data for transition fossils and the partial DNA data only show evidence for similar structure/function design between pipe fish and sea horses and not progeny. (I do not have the the genomic data before me, but it has been shown when comparing the chimp to human DNA data that a picking and choosing of which sections and how much to compare can alter the results. (See Creation Ministries International online and Answers in Genesis online for information on chimp and human DNA comparisons.One link below.) The usefulness in comparing DNA and RNA data from among different groups of life forms must be done very cautiously-with limited conclusions.)
Creation Ministries International has several articles online regarding the sea horse. See links below:
Habitat "Seahorses are mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate saltwater throughout the world, from about 45°S to 45°N . They live in sheltered areas such as sea grass beds, estuaries, coral reefs, and mangroves. Four species are found in Pacific waters from North America to South America. In the Atlantic, H. erectus ranges from Nova Scotia to Uruguay. H. zosterae, known as the dwarf seahorse, is found in the Bahamas. Colonies have been found in European waters such as the Thames Estuary.
Three species live in the Mediterranean Sea: H. guttulatus (the long-snouted seahorse), H. hippocampus (the short-snouted seahorse), and H. fuscus (the sea pony). These species form territories; males stay within 1 m2 (11 sq ft) of habitat, while females range about one hundred times that." From Wikipedia. Pix US Government public domain on Wikipedia. The assumptions of evolution: 1) assumed derivation from pipe fish: “While the discovery of a fossil of the 'missing link' would clarify the transition from a horizontally-swimming pipefish-like fish to the upright-swimming seahorse, such a fossil is not necessary to understand how seahorses evolved. Many pipe fishes have changed little since their earliest appearance in the fossil record, and it is very likely that the 'missing link' that gave rise to seahorses also has living descendants that still look very much like their ancestor.” From: www.molecularecology.flinders.edu.au/uploads/54834/ufiles/pdf/54-seahorse.pdf Nov/Dec 2009. 2) assumed expansion from pipe fish to seahorse then attachment of a male to seaweed and spread across the oceans/seas of the earth.Above reference. (This point is plausible post flood but not it's association with the change from pipe fish to seahorse.) The fossil record: "Seahorses (Syngnathidae: Hippocampus) are iconic marine teleosts that are readily identifiable by their upright posture. The fossil record is inadequate to shed light on the evolution of this trait because it lacks transitional forms...using sequence data from five nuclear loci, we confirm the sister taxon relationship between seahorses and pygmy pipe horses. Molecular dating indicates that the two taxa diverged during the Late Oligocene." Bold letters by JGL. From Biol Lett. 2009 Aug 23; 5(4): 521–523.
The assumptions of evolution: 1) No fossil transition forms and yet assumed to have existed, 2) sequence data of living forms compared and some similarities-thus assuming that from the partial DNA data the two different life forms are progenitor related, 3) age of the fossils as being from the Oligocene. Many Creation geologists have shown the problems with dating of geologic strata. (See Dr Andrew Snelling Links below).
JGL comment: Please note the lack of data for transition fossils and the partial DNA data only show evidence for similar structure/function design between pipe fish and sea horses and not progeny. (I do not have the the genomic data before me, but it has been shown when comparing the chimp to human DNA data that a picking and choosing of which sections and how much to compare can alter the results. (See Creation Ministries International online and Answers in Genesis online for information on chimp and human DNA comparisons.One link below.) The usefulness in comparing DNA and RNA data from among different groups of life forms must be done very cautiously-with limited conclusions.)
Creation Ministries International has several articles online regarding the sea horse. See links below:
The Amazing Hummingbird
