Science

Remember that video I put on about The Dangers of Algebra a while back, well, I made the statement that I kind of enjoyed Algebra... well, up until Algebra 2... where I'm learning about things like 'completing the square' and 'rhombus' and 'quadratic equations', and doing problems I'm not even sure how to accurately type out here... actually it's still fun in a very difficult and challenging way. Mom and I spent probably close to two hours yesterday puzzling over a lesson, trying to figure out the problems, but I guess it was fun. =) Today in my Science I'm reading a module about Ecology and I read about two different 'incredible mutualistic relationships' as Dr. Jay Wile (my textbook author) puts it. They are the Oriental Sweetlip and the Blue Streak Wrasse and the Blind Shrimp and the Goby.

Oriental Sweetlip with Blue Streak Wrasse

In the first case I mentioned, the Blue Streak Wrasse acts as the Oriental Sweetlip's toothbrush and the Sweetlip provides the Blue Streak Wrasse his meal. How it works is, the Sweetlip has teeth and in order to keep them from rotting, after he has eaten he finds a place where the Blue Streak Wrasse are and swims up to them with an open mouth, they then go inside the Sweetlips mouth and eat the plaque and stuff off the Sweetlips teeth, then when they are done, the Sweetlip lets them swim right of their mouth again without eating them.

Goby and Shrimp

The other one, the Blind Shrimp and the Goby are neat too. The Blind Shrimp is a shrimp who obviously can't see, and lives in a hole in the ocean floor, this is a safe place for him, other than that the ocean waters are continuously washing sand and debris into the shrimp's home, so the shrimp is in danger of being eaten by predators while he tries to re-dig his home, since he can't see. The Goby is a fish with very good eye site, but the Goby has no way to dig a home for himself to get away from predators, so the Goby and the Blind Shrimp work together, the Goby goes with the shrimp when he needs to re-dig his home, the shrimp uses a tentacle to touch the Goby with while digging out his home, then the Goby works as a lookout. If the Goby sees a predator, he signals to the shrimp by flicking his tail and they both dive into the hole, with lightning speed to reach safety.

The more I learn about God's creation the more I am amazed and awed by it. There is no other way to explain the complexity of our universe besides God creating it.

So I hope I didn't bore you too much with my learning, that you maybe already knew about :) I just thought it was too cool not to share!

Oriental Sweetlip and Blue Streak Wrasse
Photo of Shrimp and Goby