Aquatic organisms could have survived the Flood

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Claim

Present-day fish and other aquatic organisms could have survived the Flood. Many freshwater fish can survive in salt water, and many saltwater fish can tolerate fresh water. The floodwaters may have been layered by salinity, allowing others to find their preferred habitat.

Source

Responses

  1. The Flood scenario necessarily has a vast reduction in salinity in the upper layers of the oceans. If we assume complete and thorough mixing of all the Flood waters into the existing oceans, all seawater (including the upper layers) drops to about 25% of its former salinity level; if we assume that the vast quantities of fresh water did not mix thoroughly into the existing oceans, and therefore allowed whatever portion of the oceans to retain something close to their previous salinity levels, those parts of the ocean (such as the upper layers) that the fresh water did mix thoroughly into, would exhibit an even greater reduction in salinity. Therefore, the question is not whether any aquatic creatures whatsoever could survive this dramatic change in salinity levels; rather, the question is whether plankton, the foundation of the oceanic food web, which is only found in the very topmost layers of the oceans, could survive this dramatic change in salinity levels. If plankton goes extinct, then creatures which feed on plankton starve to death soon after, quickly followed by creatures which feed on plankton-eaters, quickly followed by... In short, the Flood scenario would, in short order, result in very near total oceanic sterility.
  2. Even though some freshwater fish are capable of tolerating saltwater and some saltwater fish are capable of entering freshwater, these species are few and far between in comparison to those fish that are incapable of tolerating changes in salinity. Furthermore, the vast majority of aquatic invertebrates are extremely sensitive to changes in salinity, and tend to respond to any unfavorable changes by dying.
  3. Those fish which are able to withstand a change of salinity only tolerate a gradual change in salinity. Simply dumping guppies or platies into a saltwater tank, or pouring freshwater into a bull shark's tank will kill all of the aforementioned fish. In order to tolerate changing salinity, these fish need to undergo a very subtle cellular metabolic transformation while acclimatizing themselves.
  4. Creationists also fail to realize that marine organisms not only prefer a specific salinity, they also prefer specific specific water pressures and temperature. The vast majority of aquatic organisms respond to sudden, unfavorable changes in salinity, pressure and or temperature by dying, rather than by seeking out their preferred environment. The vast majority of corals, many algae and all sessile animals are fixed to the bottom and very dependent on living at a specific depth, and are incapable of fleeing to better regions. If the oceans suddenly became deeper, or more or less salty, we would expect nearly all corals and such algae to be extinct now. Instead, these species continue to exist.
  5. No creationist has ever been able to propose an actual, observable mechanism that allows for the oceans to have a layering of salinity before or during the Flood.
  6. Baleen whales, whale sharks, and basking sharks would have their baleen filters and gill-rakers clogged by the detritus the flood kicked up. Alternatively, the plankton they feed on would have also been killed by the increase of detrius and drastic change in water quality. Either way, the large marine planktivores would have starved to death.
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Fallacies contained in this claim

References

  1. Isaak, Mark, 1998. Problems with a Global Flood, 2nd ed. [1]
  2. Morton, Glenn R., 1998a. The Global Flood Produces Acidic Flood Waters. [2]
  3. Morton, Glenn R., 1998b. Fish Cause Problems for the Global Flood. [3]

Related claims

Acknowledgments

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