This Fish is Being Called One of Nature’s Greatest Artists

The Smithsonian.com reported in 2013 that scientists had finally confirmed that the mysterious circular patterns which were found on the ocean floor in Japan were being made by Pufferfish to attract a mate. These symmetrical patterns were first noted in 1995, but it took a while before someone caught the artist in the act of making the artwork.

So how do these small fish create such large designs? “Males laboriously flap their fins as they swim along the seafloor, resulting in disrupted sediment and amazing circular patterns. Although the fish are only about 12 centimeters (5 inches) long, the formations they make measure about 2 meters (7 feet) in diameter. It takes about seven to nine days for the Pufferfish to construct the circles,” LiveScience.com explains.

The efforts of this little fish were seen by the public when BBC Earth showed the Pufferfish during a segment about courtship. Clips of the fish’s effort were posted on outlets like Best Video You Will Ever See on Facebook where it’s gained over 105 million views and 2.8 million shares from people who can hardly believe their eyes.

Watch the video below to see the amazingly intricate artwork this fish creates just using its little body. It almost doesn’t seem real!