News Animals

Pufferfish may be carving mysterious ‘crop circles’ near Australia

The only other known rings are fish nests found 5,500 kilometers away, in Japan

Torquigener albomaculosus

A male white-spotted pufferfish (Torquigener albomaculosus) swims off Amami Oshima Island in Japan near the one of the 2-meter-wide seafloor nests that species is famous for sculpting. Similar nests have now been found in Australia.

Paulo Oliveira/Alamy Stock Photo

By Jake Buehler

- More than 2 years ago

Japan’s white-spotted pufferfish are renowned for producing complex, ringed patterns in the sand.