Administration Accused of Suppressing Darwin Discovery

Snakehead Fish that Can Walk Provide the Famous Missing Link

Federal biologists and a university researcher believe they have found the famous missing link in Darwin's theory of evolution. But they accuse the Bush Administration of suppressing their work in order to placate Christian conservatives who believe God created Earth 6,000 years ago.

The missing link is the hated snakehead fish, a voracious predator native to China and Korea that is famous for wiping out entire native fish populations when it invades a body of water. The fish has begun turning up in North American waters.

A team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists says a two-year investigation found more than a dozen "highly credible" reports of snakehead fish that could walk on land and would have kept going for a considerable distance if they didn't breathe through gills. The fish eventually collapsed and died because of lack of oxygen.

Until now, the snakehead has been known only for its ability to emerge from water and slither short distances across land to reach another body of water.

The government biologists, none of whom would allow his or her name to be revealed for fear of retribution from superiors in the Interior Department, said their research dovetails with centuries old Chinese and Korean folklore that takes for granted the ability of the snakehead to walk long distances. Some scholars even cite Chinese fables about snakehead races on land.

"There's no doubt whatsoever in my mind that this is probably Darwin's missing link," said Andrew J. Erickson, a professor of paleontology at North Central Cincinnati University. "Clearly, the snakehead's ancient ancestors are the explanation of how life that began in the Earth's seas eventually moved onto land and, ultimately, led to mammals and to man."

Prof. Erickson won the prestigious Darwin Award conferred by the Round Earth Society in 1997 for his ground-breaking book "Charlie's Link", which used a children's book format to explain evolution theory.

For some time, scientists have believed that a fish came onto land long ago, learned to extract oxygen from the air, grew legs and began to walk. But no clear cut fossil record of such a creature has been found. Nor has any current living species been identified that could have provided the Darwinian link.

"These snakeheads that can walk provide that evidence," said one of the government biologists.

Prof. Erickson and the government biologists were slated to present a scientific paper at the International Darwinian Paleontology Conference in Sussex, England in June. But last week, Interior Department officials told the biologists they could not present the paper or discuss the research because the Justice Department had declared the paper and the research it represents "essential to national security" and classified it as secret.

That led the National Civil Libertarians Consortium to accuse the Bush Administration of suppressing scientific research in order to placate Christian conservatives who espouse Creation Theory.

"Once again, the Administration is using the old 'national security' rubric to impede the free flow of scientific information because some of its supporters find the free flow of information inconvenient," the NCLC said in a statement.

For it's part, Creation Now!, a Washington-based advocacy group funded by a coalition of evangelical Christian organizations, met the accusations of suppression of scientific research with amusement.

"The very idea that discovering a fish that can walk a few yards before collapsing and dying proves Charles Darwin's preposterous theory shows just how weak all the Darwin arguments are," said Leland Solano, Creation Now!'s executive director. "All you have to do is look at the Grand Canyon. That's all you need to realize that God created it all and He did it 5,873 years ago."

Asked what scientific proof would satisfy him, Solano replied, "Come back to me when pigs fly."