Regarding sharks:   Natural mutations don't happen very often, and when they do happen, they occur in individuals, not to an entire species. If a mutation is pro-survival, it's replicated in the individual's offspring, and gradually it becomes the norm. If anti-survival, often the individual members of the species die off before having a chance to reproduce in large numbers. Thus "Mother Nature" or "God" or sheer happenstance hones the design of all species.

Some species, such as the shark, can reach a state of near perfection as far as survival in a particular environment is concerned. If they can feed and reproduce unimpaired and if they have few natural enemies that constitute a serious threat to their survival, and if the environment does not alter drastically, they will remain relatively unchanged for eons. Sharks, just about the meanest dudes in the world's oceans, reached their optimum survival mode early on. Primitive though they are, they peaked early, and hence, are still going strong, relatively unchanged. The normally small mutations that occur in sharks, either pro- or anti-survival, have little effect on their overall design for survival. You will note, however, that there are several species of shark:   Great Whites, tigers, makos, hammerheads, nurse sharks, basking sharks, whale sharks, etc., all of which probably had a common ancestor sometime way back. Sharks have survived for millions of years (160,000,000, if my memory serves me) before man came along, but they're now in danger of being over-fished for their fins.

Cartoon (Mad Magazine, I think):   scene from Jaws. The shark has crashed through the transom of Quint's boat and Quint is up to his armpits in the shark's mouth. Brody shouts, "Don't hurt it, Quint, don't hurt it! Great White Sharks are an endangered species!!"

Creationism is mythology, an early attempt to explain the observed world with very little data to go on ("Obviously the earth is flat. You can see that it's flat."). When the folk tales were incorporated in an anthology of religious documents that is now the "handbook" of one or more of the world's major religions, they took on the force of religious dogma, must be accepted on faith, and as such, are not to be questioned under threat of charges of heresy. It provides a "final answer," which some people need in order to feel comfortable.

Evolution is science, derived from a much longer and more sophisticated process of observation and data gathering, subjected to inductive and deductive reasoning, measurement, testing and re-testing. Science admits of no "final answers." It is always subject to new data, constant re-evaluation, and the challenge of new theories. This apparent "uncertainty" makes some people feel very insecure, so they reject it in favor of dogma.

I know of no viable third alternative. But I'm always willing to listen.

Don Firth