The male Japanese Pufferfish is gray instead of brightly-colored. So he must use his ingenuity to attract females for mating.
Using just his fins and working 24 hours a day for an entire week, the little fish creates an astonishingly complex and beautiful “crop-circle” sand design in the sea bed.
A big h/t to FOTM’s Glenn47
The Japanese Pufferfish (Takifugu or fugu) is native to salt and brackish waters of the northwest Pacific; a few species are found in freshwater of Asia and the Indo-Pacific region.
The fish defends itself by:
- Inflating its body, filling its extremely elastic stomach with water (or air when outside of the water) until the fish is almost spherical. Hence, the name blowfish or pufferfish.
- Poisoning its predators with the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin contained in its body, which is about 1,200 times deadlier than cyanide. Each fish has enough poison to kill around 30 adult humans.
Perversely, precisely because the Japanese Pufferfish is so poisonous, it is considered a delicacy in Japan. Only specially licensed chefs can prepare and sell fugu to the public. Although the consumption of the fish’s liver and ovaries is forbidden, those parts are considered the most delicious by some because small amounts of the poison give a special desired sensation on the tongue. Every year a number of people die because they underestimate the amount of poison in the consumed fugu parts.
The Japanese Pufferfish puts us to shame.
There once was a time when men actually courted women as a prize to be won, and worked hard to provide for his family. Unlike this precious creature of God, we humans — male and female — cheapen sex and, therefore, ourselves.
~Éowyn
