In South America there are many kinds of fish, ranging in size from tiny to huge. One of these, a three-inch resident of the Amazon River, is given the difficult name of Aequidens curviceps. It is brightly colored-blue on top, green underneath, with a red border running around its middle, and, to add variety, its fins and tail are yellow.
A pair of these spends much time looking for a place on the stream bottom to produce their young. Once they have chosen a spot, both go to, work cleaning away all dirt, pebbles and rubbish. When satisfied that their nest is ready, the female swims slowly over it, laying hundreds of eggs in neat orderly rows. The male follows closely behind her, covering them with a substance called "milt."
Most fish lay their eggs and then forget about them, but not these parents. One of them always stays close by, constantly fanning the eggs with its fins and occasionally taking each egg in its lips to clean it.
Just four days before the little ones are going to come out of their eggs, the adults get busy scooping saucer-like depressions in the stream bottom. When the babies hatch, the excited parents divide them into groups and lead them away from their birthplace to these new spots. There they are hidden from the eyes of bigger fish which would find them a good meal.
The newly-born fish are nourished for several days by absorbing their egg sacs. But this soon disappears, and the babies have to find their own food. So the tiny fish start swimming away from the nest, perhaps not aware their parents have not yet left. If the babies wander too far away, one of the parents goes after them, picks them up in its mouth and brings them back to home base. There it spits them out and perhaps gives them the idea that they'd better not wander so far away next time. But, of course, eventually they are strong enough and experienced enough to take care of themselves, and then the parents leave them.
What a great variety exists among all of God's creatures! The Bible tells us that the Lord created all things "for His pleasure," and it seems He has taken great delight in bringing so many kinds of fish into the world. If evolutionists were right, by now there would be perhaps just one species of fish remaining, because of what they call "survival of the fittest." But the thousands of varieties of fish throughout the world are proof that their theories are false and foolish. Through the centuries every fish throughout the world has obeyed God's command to "bring forth after his kind," and they will continue to do so in the future.
We cannot trust men's imaginations! The Scriptures speak wisely, saying: "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Psa. 118:88It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. (Psalm 118:8).