Meet the Fish That Builds Works of Love on the Seafloor
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund
The whole process takes a labor-intensive seven to nine days, and the suitor works around the clock. Though the finished product is spectacular to human eyes, scientists aren’t sure if female pufferfish are quite so appreciative of their lovers’ labors. The fine sand particles in the middle of the nest create a soft bed for a clutch of eggs, and, it’s possible that, “the beautiful lines and structure could serve only to channel those particles to the center and have no aesthetic purpose,” researcher Alex Jordan told LiveScience.
Whatever their purpose, the structures are made all the more stunning by their impermanence. Rather than maintain his hard-won love palace, the male pufferfish makes a new masterpiece each time he mates.
And so castles made of sand melt into the sea, eventually.
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