Mysterious Patterns Under the Water of the Ocean Revealed!

Mysterious Patterns Under the Water of the Ocean Revealed!

This strange and beautiful pattern was first discovered in the sand under the ocean by the scuba divers in Japan in the year of 1995.After that, researchers were  unaware of the creator of this remarkable geometric formations for more than a decade. However, they discovered the creator of this beautiful pattern and they found that a small fish is the culprit of  creating this remarkable geometric formations.

A species of pufferfish which is called the white spotted pufferfish(Torquigener albomaculosus) is behind of creating this beautiful patterns. However, this behavior of them is their mating ritual. The color of fish's head and body are brown with white spots at the back. its stomach is silvery-white with white spots.

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii

Order: Tetraodontiformes

Family: Tetraodontidae

Genus: Torquigener

Species: T. albomaculosus

How Pufferfish create this beautiful patterns:

First of all, pufferfish makes a simple circle shape in the sand using its stomach. Once the circle is complete, the fish starts making valleys and peaks swimming in a straight line by waving its fins. As a consequence, this pattern is created .The usual diameter of this circular structures is 2 meter and it takes 7 to 9 days for the pufferfish to create this geometrical formations.

The reason why Pufferfish create beautiful patterns on the seafloor:

These species of Puffer fish create this remarkable geometric formation to attract their mates for reproduction. Creating this design is part of their mating ritual. However, the male species create this formations to attract female species. The female species choose their male mates considering the structure of the pattern such as size, number of peaks and valleys, composition and color. However, they may be able to predict male body size and health of the fish from the formation of the structure. Hiroshi Kawase (The curator of the coastal branch of Natural History Museum and Institute in Chiba, Japan) told LiveScience(2 October,2013) that the females come to inspect the circles when the circles are finished. He added that they will reproduce with the males if they like what they see. 

From summer to spring is the time period of spawning. When the male finishes creating the pattern, the female decides to mate with the male whom the female like. In order to mate, the female fish will descend to the floor of the pattern and the male will approach her. Besides, mating occurs in pairs and they will press their  bodies together and vibrate until the female fish  releases her  gametes .However, males may mate with multiple females in a day.

After mating , the female leaves the pattern and the male stays. Once the eggs are deposited, the males start taking care of the eggs and protecting them until they hatch. Moreover, they chase off predators or other rival males that come to the pattern. However, eggs hatch around five days or six days after mating. After hatching, males leave the pattern and will not use it again for mating ritual.

Hiroshi kawase told LiveScience , "Males of some species of cichilds(a type of fish) are known to construct crater-shaped mounds that females visit to have their eggs fertilized." Alex Jordan (A researcher at the university of Texas at Austin) told LiveScience , "Male featherfin cichilds in Africa's Lake Tanganyika build small bowls out of sand and display them to females before mating there."

"But this new pufferfish's geometric patterns have three features never seen before. First, they involve radially aligned ridges and valleys outside the nest site. Second, the male decorates these ridges with fragments of shells. Third, the male gathers fine sediments to give the resulting formation a distinctive look and coloring", Kawase said to LiveScience.

There are many mysteries around this globe like this underwater pattern .However ,  many mysteries are still unsolved .The scientists and researchers are still working hard in order to discover many unsolved  mysteries around this world.  

Reference:

Main.D(2013) , Pufferfish Love Explains Mysterious Underwater Circles, LiveScince,

livescience.com