00:01Hold your breath, we're going to the seabed.
00:04What do we have here?
00:05A lot of fish, octopuses, coral reefs,
00:08perfect circles of unknown origin,
00:11shrimps, stingrays, sharks.
00:13Wait, what?
00:14Hold on, what are those perfect circles on the seabed?
00:18Wow, perfectly symmetrical,
00:2067 feet in diameter with a clear outline.
00:241, 2, 3, 10, 20.
00:27There are so many of them.
00:291,300 strange rings at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
00:33What are they doing there?
00:35How did they appear?
00:38Try to guess.
00:39Traces of an extraterrestrial civilization?
00:42The remains of an ancient city?
00:44A new kind of sea creature?
00:46There's a 99% chance you won't be able to give the correct answer.
00:50But here's a little hint.
00:52There's a connection between these circles and the Ice Age.
00:56It seems that the mystery has become even more complicated.
01:01But let's find the answer together.
01:02So it all started in 2011.
01:06Marine biologists discovered mysterious circles at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
01:11And the first question that arose was why no one had noticed them before,
01:15given the vast territory these circles occupied.
01:18The fact is that a big part of the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea is too shallow and close to the shore.
01:26And for this reason, no one is engaged in mining there.
01:29At the same time, the bottom is too deep for scuba divers.
01:33Thus, the circles were in some kind of blind spot.
01:36Let's move on.
01:38The circles are approximately the same size with a clear outline and perfect symmetry.
01:44But the strangest thing is that there's a dark spot in the center of each of them.
01:48Visually, it looks like a fried egg with a yolk in the middle.
01:52In 2013, biologists discussed the discovery at a scientific conference
01:56and made assumptions about the nature of these circles.
02:00Perhaps they were connected to underwater volcanoes that left such strange marks after the eruption.
02:05Perhaps it was a strange geological formation.
02:09But why are they so perfectly round?
02:11It doesn't look like they appeared by accident.
02:15Okay, let's move on.
02:16Is it possible that it's coralline algae growing in weird shapes?
02:20You can guess as much as you'd like.
02:23But scientists needed to go down to the bottom and study the rings up close.
02:27So they did.
02:29In the center of the ring was a large protrusion formed by red calcareous algae.
02:33This ledge was several feet high and wide.
02:37And there were swaying fan-shaped growths at its top.
02:41The strange ledge was surrounded by some kind of pale scree that looked like debris.
02:46The black ring itself consisted of rotoliths.
02:49Accumulations of hard, rocky algae.
02:53Scientists realized that those weren't just circles.
02:56They seemed to be alive.
02:58Okay, more questions appeared.
02:59Let's say it's some kind of strange algae.
03:03But why form these circles?
03:05What made them this way?
03:07Scientists took samples of the material from the center of the circles and found out that they were about 21,000 years old.
03:15At that time, large-scale events were taking place.
03:18They changed the appearance of Earth and the fate of all creatures living on it.
03:2221,000 years ago was the peak of the last ice age.
03:26The Mediterranean Sea was much smaller and colder than it is now.
03:30And the seabed on which the mysterious rings appeared was closer to the surface.
03:35Now it's dark here.
03:37But at that time, this place was illuminated by sunlight passing through the water.
03:42Scientists also discovered several caves with layers of sedimentary rocks near the circles.
03:48In the past, these caves were located above the coastline and were washed by waves, resulting in erosion and the appearance of these empty gaps.
03:58Now they're completely underwater.
04:00Okay, what does this give us?
04:02The cold sea was not too deep during the ice age.
04:05What's next?
04:06Next, the scientists found out the nature of these strange ledges in the middle of the rings.
04:13At first glance, they looked very similar to corals.
04:16But in fact, they were sediments formed by coralline algae.
04:20These photosynthetic organisms created a skeleton of calcium carbonate.
04:24And the reason they did it there is that it was a warm place with access to sunlight.
04:29In the beginning, these algae were thriving.
04:33They expanded outward and formed something similar to domes or large pancakes.
04:38Then the ice age began to end.
04:40The weather became warmer.
04:42The water gradually heated up and giant continental glaciers began to melt.
04:47A huge amount of melted ice flowed into the Mediterranean Sea.
04:52Its level rose.
04:53The bottom became deeper.
04:55And there was less and less light.
04:56The beautiful algae slowly plunged into darkness.
05:01Their domes collapsed and left behind those little ledges in the center
05:04and pieces of calcium carbonate scattered around.
05:08For thousands of years, there was nothing around those algae remains.
05:12But where did the big circles come from?
05:15After the melting of glaciers, the Mediterranean Sea level stabilized about 8,000 years ago.
05:20The algae grew new layers in the form of small ledges,
05:24those swaying fan-shaped growths.
05:26This organism began to develop the pieces of calcium carbonate.
05:31And then, small pieces began to roll down the ledges.
05:34They rolled in different directions, forming those perfect circles.
05:39At the moment, this version is the most realistic.
05:43Scientists say they have no direct evidence that the mysterious circles appeared this way.
05:48But they also have no reason to believe that this version is incorrect.
05:52If any of you were hoping that someone or something had deliberately drawn these circles,
05:58don't get upset.
06:00There are other mysterious circles on the seabed.
06:02And this time, they were created for an important purpose by one amazing creature.
06:07In 1995, divers noticed beautiful circles with a geometric pattern right on the sandy bottom of the shores of Japan.
06:17It looked like someone had drawn them on the sand.
06:21The circles weren't ancient, because otherwise, the water would have swept the patterns away.
06:27Indeed, soon, those drawings were erased.
06:30But then, new ones appeared.
06:33Nobody knew what was going on.
06:35Was someone drawing stuff to tease divers?
06:38But it turned out to be much cooler.
06:41The patterns were supposed to attract females.
06:45And this someone who drew them was a small, white-spotted pufferfish.
06:50The males of these fish flap their fins on the seabed, swim in different directions, and thus, draw amazing patterned circles.
06:59They have no art education, and they probably can't think abstractly.
07:03But they really want to start a family.
07:06These fish are about 5 inches long, but their artworks are about 7 feet in diameter.
07:13These little artists try their best, but what happens afterward?
07:16The female swims in, looks at the pattern, and gives her score.
07:21If she likes the pattern, she's ready to start a family.
07:24If she doesn't like the drawing, she dashes away and leaves the poor pufferfish with a broken heart.
07:31Nothing much is known about the drawings.
07:34Scientists can't get into the fish's brain and find the answers.
07:37All we can do is observe.
07:39And during long observations, scientists noticed some curious things.
07:44Around the center, there are perfectly aligned gaps and patterns.
07:48The fish not only draws outlines on the seabed, but also decorates them with fragments of shells.
07:55That is, the male tries very hard, like an artist working on their painting.
08:00The fish creates this masterpiece within 7 to 9 days.
08:04After that, undercurrents wash it away.
08:06And the fish has to rebuild it if the female doesn't like this work.
08:10But if the female chooses the male, they become a couple.
08:14The female lays eggs in the center of these circles.
08:17Then she swims away.
08:18And the male stays with the eggs for 6 days to protect and care for their offspring.
08:24The behavior of these fish is similar to that of bowerbirds.
08:28Birds that build small huts out of twigs and leave and decorate them with colorful berries and flowers.
08:33And all this in order to attract a mate to create offspring.
08:38That's it for today.
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