# video of the day | The author of mysterious underwater circles was a romantic fish

When Japanese scientists in 1995 discovered on the ocean floor near the Amami Islands mysterious circular patterns, they long wondered: who or what is the author of these unusual works of art? Mysterious drawings arose and disappeared in different places, but never the researchers could not find an unknown "artist" behind his work. It was not possible until 2011, when for 12 months a team of underwater scientists monitored the bottom area, where intricate patterns often appeared. A talented artist turned out to be a fish of the spiny arthron type. But why did she need such works of art?

Spiny anthroon (Arothron hispidus) - ray-shaped fish of the family of puffers inhabiting the Red Sea, Indian and Pacific oceans. These fish lead a solitary lifestyle and prefer sandy marine soil in the 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's 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 grains of sand that are best suited for masonry are brought to the center of the nest by water. A kind of engineering triumph of a tiny fish. We suggest you to see these amazing shots with your own eyes, because the Japanese researchers spent so much time and effort on their filming.

The construction of the architectural work of the male prickly argotron takes about a week. They carefully clean the territory of various debris, verify the diameter of the nest and the direction of the grooves they are digging. Everything should be perfect. The final touch is a fish version of "flowers and sweets" to attract a female. To do this, the male spreads beautiful shells around the edges of the nest and waits for the female to swim by and notice them, swim to the center of the nest and let him know that he is ready to spawn. The act of love in fish looks quite unusual: the male bites the female for the "cheek", and in this position they dance for a few seconds. After the eggs are laid and fertilized, the female leaves the nest for good. Now nature will make everything else for fish. A lone male will erect his next architectural masterpiece on a new stretch of the bottom.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/research-development/video-dnya-avtorom-zagadochnyx-podvodnyx-krugov-okazalas-ryba-romantik.html.