Because I am a fool, but not an idiot, I think I shall post this description of a particularly horrible form of conjugal relations among extremely deep sea life without comment:
To understand the full extent of the constraints that the abyss places on life, consider the black seadevil. It's a somber, grapefruit-sized globe of a fish—seemingly all fangs and gape—with a "fishing rod" affixed between its eyes whose luminescent bait jerks above the trap-like mouth. Clearly, food is a priority for this creature, for it can swallow a victim nearly as large as itself. But that is only half the story, for this description pertains solely to the female: the male is a minnow-like being content to feed on specks in the sea—until, that is, he encounters his sexual partner.The first time that a male black seadevil meets his much larger mate, he bites her and never lets go. Over time, his veins and arteries grow together with hers, until he becomes a fetus-like dependent who receives from his mate's blood all the food, oxygen, and hormones he requires to exist. The cost of this utter dependence is a loss of function in all of his organs except his testicles, but even these, it seems, are stimulated to action solely at the pleasure of the engulfing female. When she has had her way with him, the male seadevil simply vanishes, having been completely absorbed and dissipated into the flesh of his paramour, leaving her free to seek another mate. Not even Dante imagined such a fate.
Have a look at this beauty -- I call her Maude -- over at Brad Plumer's blog, whence this item came.
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2nd try at this comment:
"Seadevils are as God made them . . . unless one believes in evolution, of course." Sig
God did not make seadevils, concupiscence of the flesh did. God allowed concupiscence as a result of our original disobedience.
If I were to give in to my concupiscence, as seadevils do to theirs, I would go in search of Pamela Anderson.
Whaa . . . fish have concupiscence now? Is there a reference for that in the Catechism of the Catholic Church?? And is there some thought as to how reproduction among fish would have worked without the Fall of Man? Was there a Divine Universal Plan for that? I honestly hesitate to even ask, because I cannot see how the answers can be anything less than . . . well, incredible. And contrary to what you may think, Cleveland, I don't really enjoy seeing either you or the Catholic Church made to look foolish.
Maybe that's why there was so much Japanese expostulation to your earlier comment! A web god somewhere in the luminiferous aether is trying to save you from yourself!
sig,
I assume Cleveland meant that post humorously.
Obviously the Catholic Church does not believe or teach that "fish have concupiscence" or that the Fall of Man changed the means of procreation, either for human beings or animals.
FWIW, the Catholic nuptial blessing describes married life as "the one blessing that was not forfeited by original sin or washed away in the flood."
God did not make seadevils, concupiscence of the flesh did. God allowed concupiscence as a result of our original disobedience.
That's a joke, right? Ha-ha. But seriously, how would a Creationist* explain the mating facts of seadevil life? Not that I necessarily expect anyone to explain why God did/does things, but I am curious as to how Creationists approach this kind of thing.
* I think this term might be politically loaded, and if so, I apologize. I truly only mean it to mean someone who believes the Biblical explanation of how life came to be on earth.
Mrs. Pringle
"sig, I assume Cleveland meant that post humorously." Simon
Simon, Sig was employing her superior intellect in playing a humorous game--kinda like two-level chess. She is delicately snipping at me concerning the question of whether God or evolution made homosexuals as they are, continuing my earlier analogy of seadevils as homosexuals in the political realm, but feigning ignorance (to the board) of the game. This game started when I said at 7:33 PM on the 4th:
"[Rod's seadevil post] Reminds me of the historic relationship between Socialist/Totalitarian States and homosexuals in Hitler's Germany, the U. S. S. R., Islamist States and Cuber.
Seadevils never seem to learn; must be an intrinsically objective disorder."
------------------------------------------
Mrs. Pringel, do you still tingle at the jingle of Kris Kringel, or now mingle with the single-minded atheist crowd? If the latter, I wish you a happy solstice.
"So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm [including seadevils], according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good."
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