...and they may be caused by a species unknown to science

•  Mysterious underwater crop circles found off the coast of Western Australia
•  Similar to the nests of white-spotted pufferfish that are only found in Japan 
•  Marine ecologists said the circles may be caused by an unknown species of fish

Mysterious underwater 'crop circles' have been discovered off the coast of Western Australia and could be created by an unknown species.  

Marine ecologist Todd Bond spotted the ringed patterns, about 130m deep, while conducting a marine life survey on the North West Shelf.  

'We were doing a survey of fish on subsea infrastructure and I knew exactly what they were straight away,' Mr Bond told Daily Mail Australia. 

A marine ecologist discovered dozens of mysterious underwater crop circles (pictured), 130m deep, while conducting a marine life survey off the coast of Western Australia 

Mr Bond, a University of Western Australia research associate, said the complex patterns were only produced by a species of pufferfish known to Japan. 

'As far as we know, up until now, there's only one species of pufferfish that makes these circles and that's the white-spotted puffer.   

'We recognised the circles from a BBC documentary which had some amazing footage of how these pufferfish make these circles in Japan,' he explained.

Mr Bond said the circles had only been found 30m deep off the coast of Japan.  

'It was a bit of a shock because they're a fair way away from Japan and much deeper.  

'We've never found them anywhere else in the world and obviously at 100m of water we rarely get video footage from this part of the ocean. 

'No doubt they probably are in other parts of the world but it's just by chance that we have this video footage,' Mr Bond explained. 

The complex patterned rings have only been known to be created by white-spotted pufferfish (pictured) and have only been found at 30m deep off the coast of Japan 

 

The researcher said the animal responsible for creating the underwater crop circles in Western Australia was a mystery.  

 

'We don't know the species that is making the circles in Western Australia, it could be the white-spotted puffer or a different species of puffer. 

'It could be a new species of puffer that we've never discovered before, or it could be a local species off the coast that we've never actually seen,' he explained. 

Mr Bond also said the pufferfish circles functioned as a nest.    

'The males take about a week to make these quite elaborate nests and then the female will go from nest to nest.

'She'll decide which one she wants to lay her eggs at and she'll lay her eggs at the centre of the circle,' he explained. 

Mr Bond said the discovery has raised many new questions that could ultimately help scientists understand more about the evolution of pufferfish. 

The underwater circles (pictured) in WA may have been created by an unknown species of fish

Video can be accessed at source link below