At 12:00 PM 2/20/2004 +0000, you wrote:
>What good does a tiny perk do for a shell that it can't protect?
> > El Q



Pretty good evidence of evolution in action. Cones are in the process of
"losing" their percs as changes in aperture morphology make percs
unnecessary. The same way you are in the process of "losing" your appendix
and wisdom teeth. And slugs "losing" their internalized vestigial shells.

Which begs the question, Why would Intelligent Design create half a perc?





G. Thomas Watters, PhD
Curator of Molluscs
Museum of Biological Diversity
Department of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology
The Ohio State University
1315 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH 43212 USA
[log in to unmask]
v: 614-292-6170
f: 614-292-7774

Visit the Mollusc Division at:
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~molluscs/OSUM2

"Let me take you, baby, down to the riverbed,
  Gotta tell you something go right to your head" - Spirit

So join the Freshwater Mollusc Conservation Society at:
http://ellipse.inhs.uiuc.edu/FMCS/index.html