Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Weird Wednesday~Underwater Crop Circles

One person who has dedicated his life to uncovering the mysteries of the oceans is Japanese photographer Yoji Ookata who has spent the last 50 years exploring and documenting his discoveries off the coast of Japan. 


Recently while on a dive near Amami Oshima at the southern tip of the country, Ookata spotted something he had never encountered before: rippling geometric sand patterns nearly six feet in diameter almost 80 feet below sea level. He soon returned with colleagues and a television crew from the nature program NHK to document the origins what he dubbed the “mystery circle.”


Using underwater cameras the team discovered the artist is a small puffer fish only a few inches in length that swims tirelessly through the day and night to create these vast organic sculptures using the gesture of a single fin. Through careful observation the team found the circles serve a variety of crucial ecological functions, the most important of which is to attract mates. 


Apparently the female fish are attracted to the hills and valleys within the sand and traverse them carefully to discover the male fish where the pair eventually lay eggs at the circle’s center, the grooves later acting as a natural buffer to ocean currents that protect the delicate offspring. Scientists also learned that the more ridges contained within the sculpture resulted in a much greater likelihood of the fish pairing.

6 comments:

Robin Larkspur said...

Who'd thunk?!! amazing Nature!

MrsDuncanMahogany said...

That is absolutely amazing! What wonder!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I can scarcely believe that is true! Those little puffer fishes are true artistes!

The Artful Gypsy aka Wendy the Very Good Witch said...

Wow! Now that is fascinating! The worlds mysteries are SO VAST, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface. Something else here, I've never seen before...that's 2 in 1 day Jeanne....THANK YOU for finding these things! :o)

Aisha @The Bewitching Bibliophile said...

I saw this a few weeks ago, it's absolutely amazing. I love Mother Nature

Introverted Art said...

wow, I was about to start a UFO conspiracy ;-)