Beautiful Meat Eating Water Plant

The flower of this plant is compared to Orchids and Snapdragons for beauty, but lurking under these beautiful flowers and stems in fresh water areas of the world is “one of the most sophisticated structures in the world.” The plant is commonly called a bladder-wort, its formal name is Utricularia, and it lives its life in the water.

The underwater structure is a trap, a hollow bladder. It is used by the plant to capture and digest living creatures. This plant bladder eats any living thing in the water including tadpoles, insects, and small fish fry. So how does it work?

The bladder is a precision instrument that uses pressure to bring prey into the bladder. When the bladder is full of water it pumps the water out through special cells designed to let water out but not let it back inside. As it pumps the water out the outer lining of the bladder is drawn in to create the resistance necessary to draw water, and unsuspecting prey, in through a trap door hinged by a special elastic material. Extending from the door bottom are hairs that work like doorknobs. When they are touched the door opens and the bladder expands to suck in water and whatever creature touched the hairs.

Here is another complex system which provides more evidence of design and therefore a designer.