A Deep Sea Love Story … Solved

Last year, Japanese underwater filmmaker Yoji Ookata came across something strange on a dive: An intricate underwater rosette design that had been painstakingly carved in the sea floor, likely to attract a mate.

The likely artist was quickly identified as a pufferfish, but no one was able to capture it in action. Now, a team has captured footage of the pufferfish sculptor at work making his Zen garden of love. The male swims across the edges, flapping out sand from the grooves, and even at one point placing a shell in the center, likely to provide nutrients for the young hatchlings he hopes will take up residence.

The ocean floor still remains so mysterious. Think of the awesome biology that still remains to be found down there! We know more about the moon than most areas of the ocean floor.

Anyway, I’m jut glad we got this footage before the Discovery channel turned it into a movie about alien mermaids.

(via Spoon and Tomago)