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Apr. 28th, 2015 at 4:37 PM
A Pufferfish's Garden
For years divers off the coast of Japan encountered these enormous, 2 metre diameter 'mystery circles' on the sandy sea floor. Recently we found out who was making them.
This huge underwater crop-circle is the mating display of the male Torquigener pufferfish. The small (12 cm) fish takes 7-9 days to meticulously prepare one of these elaborate gardens. It seems that the sole purpose of the garden is to attract a mate, and provide a good site to lay her eggs.
If their garden catches a mate's eye, the male will hang around for another 6 days to care for the eggs, before moving on to a new location, and starting a new garden.
This small pufferfish produces one of the most elaborate displays known in nature.
- OB
Image Credit: http://goo.gl/PCahFI
Original Article: http://goo.gl/Nh85tD
A Video (Attenborough!): http://goo.gl/9TmPI4
(from the Earth Story FB page)
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