The divers discovered an amazing pattern on the seafloor at the japanese coast in 1995. These circles appeared. They looked like geometric designs, similar to crop circles. For over a decade, no one knew who was the artist behind these etchings. But to everyone’s surprise, the creators of these 7-foot-wide (2 meters) patterns were 5-inch-long (12 centimeters) pufferfish.
Amazing Underwater Artwork of Pufferfish These artistic endeavors are a unique mating ritual. The male pufferfish swim along the seafloor while flapping their fins to create these intricate designs. They also add fragments of shells to decorate the edges of the circle and gather fine sand particles to give their formation a distinct color and look. It can take about 7 to 9 days for the pufferfish to complete their "crop circles." Then the females come to inspect the artwork. If they are impressed, they reproduce with the males, although scientists don't yet understand what elements of these circles are deemed more attractive than others. The mating involves the females laying her eggs in the center of the circles then the males fertilizing them. The mother takes off and the father stays for about a week, perhaps to protect the eggs until they hatch. Because of the shape and ridges of the pattern, the water flow over the eggs is slowed by almost 25%.
