Plain Truth 1978 (Prelim No 04) Apr - Herbert W. Armstrong

18
On certa in nights durin g th e
spring and summer months, sandy
Ca lifornia beach es are the scene of
a spectacular display put on by
sma ll silvery fish called grunio n.
By the thousands these fish come
out of the ocean to lay their eggs in
the wet beach sand, in accorda nce
with a most am azing and uncanny
built-in clock. Indeed, a keen sense
of timing is absolutely essenti al for
their survival.
Of all the var ieties of fish in the
world, only the grunion show such
spawning habits.
To understand some of the reasons
why the sex life of the gru n- .
ion is such a remarkable example
of a "living clock," we need to con ­
side r some facts about ocea n tides.
First, there are two low tides and
two high tides roughly every 25
hours. Second, the highest tides occur
at the time of the full moon
and at the time of the new moon
(at inte rva ls of about two weeks).
The grun ion, with little variation
, spawn at high tide on the
second, third, and four th night s after
the full moon and afte r the new
moo n. This means that they are
spawning after the time of the
highest tides of the month (a t a
time when the high tides are declinin
g).
Sexby the Clock
Sand is carried away fr om
beach es when tides are incre asing ,
so the grunion spawn on night s
and at that time of night when
tides are declining and their eggs
will be covered by sand. If they
spa wned at that time of the month
or at that time of night when tide s
were getting higher, their eggs
would be washed away by succeeding
tides and gru nion would
become extinct.
Moreover, since it takes about
nine day s for their eggs to develop,
they must spawn at a time when
their eggs will have nine days in
the sand before they are washed
free . Eggs which are laid on the
second, third, and fourth nights
following the highest tides will
usually hatch from one to three
nights before the next highe st tide.
But if the grunion were to spaw n
lat er than these three night s, their
eggs would be washed out before
they were ready to hatch.
Finall y, it is essen tial that the
eggs hatch within a few minutes
after they are agitated, but not until
they are agitate d. If the eggs
hatched as soon as they got wet,
the y would probably hatch pre ­
maturely and the bab y gru nio n
would die. In nature, the vital agitati
on comes when the eggs are
washed free from the sand by
waves of rising tides.
Thus the gru nion must take a
multitude of factors into account
in orde r to reproduce. No one
knows the exac t mechanism con ­
trolling th e pr ecise tim in g o f
th e gru nion, but precise it is.
Without this timin g, they would
have little chance of survival as a
species.
Yet how did the gru nion acquire
their incredible built-in clock? If
they "evolved" their sense of timing
over thousands or millions of
years, the grunion would have
long ago becom e extinct! Remember,
the timin g must be alm ost
perfect; the eggs must be laid at
just the right time-just after the
highe st tide for that month- oth erwise
the eggs would be washed
away before they could de velop .
And the eggs must develop in nine
da ys so they will be rea dy to hatch
when the next high est monthly
tide comes in. If they aren' t ready
to hatch, the tide will take them
away and they will die.
Truly the clockwork-like sex life
of the grunio n is an awesome spectacle.
Th e gru nion's incredible and
intri cate sense of timing is a powerful
testim ony to the handiwork
of the Creator.
The PLAIN TRUTH April 1978