page_title: Pufferfish mating ritual
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Pufferfish mating ritual / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: This figure shows the movements of the pufferfish when constructing the nest. The black lines show inward movements, the white lines show outward movements, and the red dot/circle shows the center of the structure.
context_page_description: The white-spotted pufferfish is known for its unique and complex courtship display which involves creating large, geometric circles in the sand. These circles are constructed in an effort to attract females for copulation. Males must maintain their circles in order to attract a mate. A female will evaluate the structure and choose to mate with the males after evaluation and completion of other mating behaviors.
  The geometric circles had first been noticed by divers in 1995, but it was not discovered that they were created by white-spotted pufferfish until 2013 when the species was discovered in the Ryukyu Islands. It is thought that white-spotted pufferfish are the only species of their kind to engage in this type of mating ritual.
context_section_description: These structures are found at depths of 10–30 m on the seabed off the south coast of the Amami-oshima Island. These circular structures are geometrically ordered with a diameter of 2 meters and are formed in 7–9 days. The outer ring of the nest consists of a series of mountains and groves and the center is an irregular maze like pattern. The center is formed with very fine sand particles with respect to the outer portion t is now thought that they are the most ordered structures created by any fish. 
  There's a set number of steps the fish must follow in order to complete the structure. The fish begins making the structure by forming a simple circle shape in the sand using its belly. Once this is complete the fish makes the valleys and peaks by waving its fins while swimming in a straight line from the outside to the inside of the nest. The center is formed by either inside to the outside or outside to inside movements, while waving its anal fin to form the irregular pattern. Through these movements very fine sand particles are moved to the center. Once the structure is completed, it is maintained until spawning by continuing the same inward-outward movements. After spawning the structure gradually deteriorates since maintenance behavior is halted.
caption: Movements of the White-spotted pufferfish for nest construction.
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