Some mimic their background. How can some mimic their background?

I’m struck by the things nature does at times. I was amazed to discover that the tiny Goby fish, variations of which live all around the globe, can mimick dead leaves – to the point of looking so much like dead leaves drifting along the bottom of a pond or stream that predators (and I) are completely fooled. What an amazing adaptation!

Why so amazing?

For one, how did this adaptation occur? I can’t, for example, change the looks of my arms into steel by just wishing it so, in order to trick mosquitoes. I can’t think any part of my body into a completely different shape than it now looks – just because I want to. Yet somehow that first Goby must have done just that! And now, its descendants benefit from that adaptation.

Many other creatures have managed to adapt by changing their body shapes and sizes to mimick things in their environments, such as the Walking Stick, the Chameleon lizard, and the Praying Mantis – and how about Cuddlefish that are able to almost instantly become invisible against almost any background!

How does a creature SEE its environment, and then apparently THINK itself into another shape or color that takes advantage of an environmental element?

It could be argued that such amazing adaptations may be convincing evidence for a “designer” or “creator”. I lean toward much more mundane and earthbound reasons, whatever that may be. Still, it is rather puzzling, for sure.

Life is so amazing!