Fish are more romantic than we give them credit for. It seems that female pufferfish go for males who are the best sand artists. Japanese underwater photographer Yoji Ookata has been following his passion for underwater exploration since he was a young man. At the age of 21, he got his scuba diving license, bought a brand new Nikonos 35 mm film camera designed for underwater photography and began exploring.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says only about 5 percent of the world’s oceans have been explored, so it’s no wonder Ookata was the first person to come upon the stunning underwater “crop circles” shown in the video below. Later, it was discovered that a small puffer fish swims along the sandy bottom day and night to create these circles meant to attract a female fish to mate. Scientists found that the more ridges contained within the circle, the more likely two fish were to mate. Puffer fish eggs are then laid in the ridges of these circles, which protect the delicate eggs from ocean currents. Check out a slideshow of these phenomena in the video below.