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When Japanese scientists discovered mysterious circular patterns on the ocean floor near the Amami Islands in 1995, for a long time guessed: who or what is the author of these unusual works of art?
Mysterious drawings appeared and disappeared in different places, but the researchers never managed to catch the unknown "artist" at his work. It was not possible until 2011, when for 12 months a team of underwater scientists monitored the bottom area, where intricate patterns most often appeared.
A talented artist turned out to be a fish of the species Prickly Arotron. But why did she need such works of art?
Spiky Arotron(Arothron hispidus) - ray-finned fish of the pufferfish family, living in the Red Sea, Indian and Pacific Oceans. These fish lead a solitary lifestyle and prefer sandy seabed in lagoons and on outer reefs at a depth of 1 to 50 meters.
The thing is that for the survival of caviar, these fish need sand of almost perfect consistency. That is why the male builds a special "nest" of sand in such a way as to reduce the strength of the current by 25%, and adjust everything in such a way that the sand grains best suited for masonry are carried to the center of the nest by water.
A kind of engineering triumph for the tiny fish. We invite you to see these amazing shots with your own eyes, because Japanese researchers spent so much time and effort to shoot them.
It takes about a week for males of the Spiny Arotron to erect an architectural work. They carefully clean the area from various debris, verify the diameter of the nest and the direction of the grooves they dig. Everything has to be perfect. The final touch is a fishy version of "flowers and candy" to attract the female.
To do this, the male lays beautiful shells along the edges of the nest and waits for the female passing by to notice them, swim up to the center of the nest and let him know that she is ready to spawn.
The act of love in fish looks quite unusual: the male bites the female on the “cheek”, and in this position they dance for several seconds.
After the eggs are laid and fertilized, the female leaves the nest forever. Now nature will do the rest for the fish. And a lone male will build his next architectural masterpiece on a new section of the bottom.
At the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Japan, mysterious circular patterns in the sand are discovered. They are made with such artistic skill that they leave no doubt about their handiwork. To many divers, these unusual drawings reminiscent of crop circles drawn by aliens. But who creates the circles at the bottom of the ocean? Is this the work of representatives of an extraterrestrial civilization?
Yohji Ookata has been diving and photographing underwater for almost five decades, but this discovery really blew him away. Diving near the Lycian Islands in order to take pictures of coral gardens, the Japanese accidentally stumbled upon a three-dimensional sand pattern at a depth of twenty-five meters. It was a perfectly even circle with a diameter of about seventy centimeters with undulating ridges diverging from the center.
Ookata had never experienced such wonders before, so he immediately decided to enlist the help of a professional film crew to capture the mysterious underwater artist on video. Soon the cameras submerged to the bottom actually recorded it. It turned out that the sand circles on seabed draws ... a small puffer fish - the one whose poisonous meat is considered an exquisite delicacy.
The Japanese found that the males of these fish diligently draw these patterns in the sand, touching the ocean floor with their fins. Each such circle is the product of one individual fish. These amazing designs are necessary for males to attract females for the purpose of mating. Females swim and choose the best quality circles, after which they lay eggs in the very center of intricate patterns, which are fertilized by males. Future offspring will be protected here from sea currents - this will be facilitated by a complex combination of grooves and shafts on the underwater structure. And the more skillfully the design of such an “architecture”, the more partners a male can attract.
The outer part of the incubator consists of two circles, the rays of one of which are directed clockwise, and the rays of the other - against. Amazingly, some galaxies in the universe rotate in exactly the same way. Thus, scientists now have to determine why such a primitive creature was endowed by evolution with the idea of \u200b\u200bmathematics and even, perhaps, astronomy. Why does the puffer fish store the archetype of an even circle in its memory and reproduce it with the highest accuracy?
The scientist Vasile Droj even suggests that the whole secret of the drawing is in creating a certain energy accumulator, due to which the maximum energy is concentrated in the center of this mysterious construction of sand, which, apparently, contributes to a faster and more successful maturation of the offspring. Protection from sea currents has nothing to do with it; for this, it would be more efficient to simply dig a depression at the bottom of the ocean. But how are primitive fish endowed with such fantastic capabilities? ..
Video: Who leaves mysterious circles at the bottom of the ocean?
In 1995, near the Japanese island of Amamioshima in the East China Sea, divers discovered amazing symmetrical figures on the ocean floor. They had the shape of a circle with direct rays radiating from the center at regular intervals. Later, similar formations were found in other places near the Japanese coast, and scientists could not understand whether this phenomenon owes its origin to a living organism or is it some kind of a natural phenomenon. Divers have nicknamed the strange figures magic circles at the bottom.
After 18 years, the mysterious craftsmen managed to figure out.
They turned out to be small fish from the pufferfish family (Tetraodontidae), whose unusual habits Hiroshi Kawase, curator of the Museum natural history in Thibaut Prefecture, published in a magazine scientific reports .
The team of divers managed to photograph the males of these fish at work: quickly moving their fins along the sandy bottom, the fish step by step draw amazing circles of the correct shape on its surface.
Despite the fact that the length of the fish themselves does not exceed 12 cm, they make truly gigantic circles - up to 2 m in diameter.
During two observation seasons, scientists observed several males at work, and some of them were busy at several "objects" at once. It turned out that it takes seven to nine days for a fish to build one circle. First, with the help of fins, they create an outer ring, then, moving from the edge to the center, they create radial furrows that repeat at regular intervals. Moreover, the number of such rays in different buildings can vary from 24 to 32.
Soon, scientists learned the meaning of this mysterious ritual: naturally, all this was done for the sake of females.
Females come with the inspection of the object at the very end of the work. Seeing them, the male picks up grains of sand from the bottom and rushes towards the chosen one. She can examine the creation for a couple of minutes, then move away and return again. If the nest built by the male corresponds to her ideas of beauty, the female lays her eggs in the central part of the circle, and the male fertilizes her.
True, while scientists do not know what criteria females use when evaluating the quality of the structure.
After spawning, the females disappear, while the males remain near the circles for about six more days, probably guarding the eggs. After the eggs mature, the males leave the place, setting off to create a new nest. At the same time, they always build new and never ennoble old buildings, scientists have established. The experiments performed showed that the combination of radial beams is selected in such a way that the velocity of the bottom water flow in the central part of the nest decreases by about a quarter.
Previously, scientists were aware of some species of cichlids that lure females by creating crater-like mounds. However, the strange figures erected by Japanese puffer fish have surprised biologists for three reasons. First, radial depressions and mounds are created by them outside the very place of egg laying. Secondly, the nests themselves are decorated with selected fish shells. And finally, using sand, the fish create unique features of each new building that distinguish it from others.
"This is an exciting discovery because it provides a clear answer to a question that doesn't often happen in biology," said Alex Jordan, a biologist at the University of Texas who was not involved in the study.
For a little underwater artist, this process is part of a very difficult mating ritual.
About a year ago, the network was actively discussing the opening amazing fish, capable of independently creating intricate "crop circles" at the bottom of the ocean.
This curious quirk of nature was first captured by a Japanese photographer named Yoji Ookata. Not too long ago, Yoji returned to amazing creatures with the crew of the Japanese nature television show NHK, who released a mesmerizing video of the process of creating underwater paintings.
Even looking at photos of the finished buildings of this fish, it was hard to imagine how such a small creature could build such a big picture. Thanks to the video, the mechanics of the process become clearer.
By the way, sand patterns not only help to charm fish of the opposite sex, but also serve as protection when a young family acquires offspring.
"Underwater cameras showed that the artist was a small male Puffer fish who, using only the vibration of his fins, worked tirelessly day and night to create circles of combs. The unusual artist - better known in Japan as a delicacy, although potentially poisonous - even collected small shells, crushed them and laid out the inner circles of his sculpture with them, as a decoration of his masterpiece. Further observations showed that these "mysterious circles" not only decorate the seabed. pufferfish and marry there to lay their eggs in the center of the circles.Scientists have recorded that the more ridges a circle contains, the more likely it is that a female will mate with a male.Observers also believe that crushed shells do not just lie there, but provide substances necessary for normal development of eggs and nutrition of fry."
The history of this fish began in 1995, when divers began to find beautiful circular structures with a diameter of about 2 meters at the bottom of the Sea of Japan near the Ryukyu archipelago. What it is and why - it was not clear for a long time. For almost 20 years, biologists have puzzled over where and how complex circular structures appear in the sand. Finally, it turned out that these are mating structures and are made by males of a previously unknown species of pufferfish in order to attract females.
In July 2012, a group of divers made a film for BBC Life showing the colorful construction of this nest. We invite you to take a look at it!
Previously, the pufferfish clear the selected place from various debris, take out twigs, shells, and extra pebbles. During the mating ritual, the males spin, spin and wriggle at the very bottom, plowing it open with their fins, thus creating a kind of nest on the sandy bottom.
It is strange that such patterns of sand have remained unnoticed by man for so long.
As it turned out, the structure of the nests serves not only the purpose of attracting attention, the three-dimensional pattern of lines and circles dampens the sea currents, providing greater security to the offspring located in the center.
Architect fish uses small shells to decorate the nest
The initial stage of nest building by a male white-spotted pufferfish
The length of the male architect fish is up to 12 centimeters, while the diameter of the nest he built can reach 2 meters
Construction of the architect fish's nest comes to an end
The pufferfish genus is considered one of the most poisonous among fish, but this does not prevent its representatives from being a great delicacy in Japan, where its culinary name is fugu fish.
