This pattern on the seabed is about 2 metres wide.
Its builder is a pufferfish about 12 centimetres long.
He makes it with his fins and body.
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A Tiny Fish’s Enormous Dating Profile
Researchers watched males spend 7–9 days building these circles off Japan.
They’re courtship nests. Females visit, and spawning happens in the centre.
A dating profile made of sand.
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A Tiny Fish’s Enormous Dating Profile
He even places shell and coral fragments on the ridges.
And the shape does more than look impressive: it helps gather fine sand in the centre of the nest.
There’s engineering beneath the decoration.
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A Tiny Fish’s Enormous Dating Profile
After spawning, the male tends the eggs while the circle gradually erodes.
In the study, males started fresh nests for the next breeding cycle.
Somewhere underwater, a tiny fish is beginning this whole project again.
