SOMETHING FISHY


Yoji Ookato pulled on his dive gear. The underwater photographer gathered his waterproof cameras. Then he dove into the sea off southern Japan.


★


When he reached the seafl oor, he saw something odd. It was a giant circle in the sand that was 2 m wide. The sand in the center looked smooth. A pattern of symmetrical ridges piled up around the edge of the circle.


Ookato took pictures of the sand sculpture. When he shared his photos, other divers said they’d seen these mysterious circles, too. Yet no one had ever seen what made them.


A tiny pufferfish swims back and forth to make a circle in the sand.


14 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXTREME EXPLORER


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