Beautiful Words Blog | Fish Have Hair Too by John Moropoulos | Gateway Christian Fellowship

When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. John 10:4

As noted in the preceding blog post, our sense of hearing is essential to us. God created us with the ability to hear, both naturally and supernaturally. This is a vital ability, as God created us to follow Him, by following His Son, and we do this by hearing His voice.

Jesus illustrated this in His words about The Good Shepherd. In John 10, He said of His relationship with His sheep, When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. We have been, like sheep, given the ability to not only hear our Master’s voice, but to distinguish it from all other voices.

In his book The Universal Sense: How Hearing Shapes the World, Dr Seth Horowitz explains how the sense of hearing is universal in the vertebrate world and just about so in the invertebrate world. The difference between the thousands of kinds of vertebrate creatures is in the way they hear. Based on their environment and specific needs, each creature is blessed with the ability to hear what it needs to hear in a way that works for them.

Ever wonder why God made bullfrogs croak? In the aquatic environment in which they live, the low frequency of the bullfrog’s ribbit is especially audible. A significantly higher pitch wouldn’t carry well. The frog’s pitch works where it is. It is also designed by the frog’s Maker to carry the specific information the frog requires. The female’s croak is slightly higher than the males. It’s low enough to carry but just high enough for the male to know it’s a female calling. The purpose of that is obvious.

But here’s the really interesting part: when bullfrogs are born, as we all know, they aren’t frogs. They are tadpoles. This is problematic because bullfrogs live mostly out of the water, or at least their heads are out of the water, but a tadpole lives underwater. The auditory mechanisms that allow a bullfrog to hear the amorous invitation of its future mate won’t work underwater. Liquids both hinder and accelerate the transmission of sound, so a different system is required.

Fortunately, the tadpole is born with a hearing system that is perfect for underwater and which then develops into the system that the frog will need when it is living above the waterline. The Creator actually provides the frog with a gender specific pattern for the development of its new sound system, allowing it to locate an appropriate mate in due time.

So, how does hearing work for aquatic creatures that will live their whole lives in the water? Their auditory systems are designed for water. But in another sense, they hear just like we do. The shark famously homes in on the vibrations of injured prey. Those vibrations are sound waves. The shark simply collects that same data using a different system. If you’ve ever had your head underwater when a noise is made, like two objects striking one another, you will know that water both transmits the sound (it comes in loud) but it also dulls the sound (it doesn’t sound as clear as it would above water). The shark’s system works in this environment.

Fish have been given their own system, tailored for their environment. They have hair. True. I know we’ve been told that hair is a mammal thing, but fish have hair. It’s just all inside. In fact it’s inside their ears, specifically the part that is inside their heads. These hairs act as if they weren’t underwater at all.

So here’s the point. God made His creatures to hear. He made His creatures hear where they are and how to do it in a manner that provides them the information they need to survive. He made the sheep to hear its Master’s voice.

He made us that way, too. We have a system for hearing and processing the natural world around us, and another to hear and process the world of His Spirit. The question then becomes, “Are we tuned in?” I hope so.

More to come.

A special note: Most of the material here is taken from Dr Seth Horowitz’ book; as these matters are well outside of my expertise, I am neither a scientist nor a sound specialist, I would ask the reader’s indulgence for any technical errors.