If we go to the dictionary to be exact with the term, the verb “courtej” accompanies the following definition: try to get the love or favors of someone flattering him and looking for his company. Therefore, the finding that took place several decades ago was so surprising. Normally, when we talk about courting we think of human key. However, in the animal kingdom they exceed everything seen in our species when it comes to claiming the attention of the other.
The enigma of the circles. In 1995, a group of divers who were exploring the waters near Amami ōshima, Japan, discovered strange circular formations in the seabed. It was surprising, since those structures were symmetric, with radial spikes and valleys, and with such a prominent geometric perfection that it aroused all kinds of speculation about their origin: were they facing a human creation, or was it due to some kind of unknown natural phenomenon , or maybe an unusual organism?
The years passed, and it was not until 2011 that a team of scientists managed to solve the mystery. Not just that. They managed to “catch” the suspect repeating the lavish scene. To the surprise of the researchers, the protagonist was a tiny torquigener albomaculosus, a small species of balloon fish that, with a size of just 12 centimeters, seemed to be able to sculpt structures 16 times larger than his own body with a very purpose very Specific: seduce a couple for reproduction.
The art of courtship under the sea. The year of the finding, the scientists recorded the process of creating these circles in the seabed, observing up to 10 reproductive events in two study areas. Each structure took between seven and nine days to complete and required extreme precision. The male balloon fish used its pectoral, anal and flows fins to dig and model the sand in a perfect radial pattern, alternating between rapid movements and strategic pauses to give texture to the formations.
In addition, he decorated the peaks of his work with decorative elements such as shells and coral fragments, while the center of the circle was completely clear as we see in the images. Only when these final details were ready, the females began to approach to evaluate the design of the “artist.”
The mating ritual. At this point, when a female was interested in the structure, the male stirred the fine sand of the center to attract her attention. If she decided to enter the circle, the male withdrew momentarily before swimming quickly towards her in a repetitive courtship dance. If the female was impressed, she put her eggs in the center of the circle, making it a temporary nest.
If that was already fascinating, shortly after it was revealed that the impressive structures were never reused, they were of only one use. After reproduction, males leave their creation and begin a new one from scratch, since the process of sculpting the circle consumes most of the finest and most adequate sand for reproduction. This nest construction ritual, documented years later in the BBC BBC Earth/PBS series and narrated by Sir David Attenborough, has amazed biologists and spectators since then.
Ephemeral art. No doubt, the complex work of the Globe fish is one of the most fascinating exhibitions of the animal kingdom, comparable to the elaborate muddy dances of birds or the constructions of some mammals. However, what makes these structures unique is that these are true underwater works of art, carefully designed and molded with geometric precision. In addition, its discovery also offered a new perspective on the evolution of courtship in vertebrates.
Although humans tend to think about art and architecture as exclusively ours capacities, these seabl , all that, and surely something else, in the extraordinary work of a tiny creature.
Imagen | H Kawase et al (2017) Fishes, CC BY 4.0
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