Sand Circles at end of our pond
 

Please see the attached pics; this is very puzzling. It looks like the pond sand has formed circles at one end of this pond.

Am I seeing this correctly? How did it happen?

The pond is long & narrow, runs parallel to Woods Way & Dooley streets in DeSoto. The end with the circles abuts Fussell. Water level is now very low & these circles are visible. This pond is connected to other ponds & we regularly notice wavelike water movement that (guessing) is just water being pumped from one pond to another. Not sure if the water movement has anything to do with the circles. And yes, the pond has regular gators cruising back & forth, and a variety of birds coming & going. Haven't seen any workers or equipment at this end of the pond for over a year.

Click on each pic to make it bigger.

Thanks for explaining how this happened.

Sand circles
 

Could be space aliens, but I vote for Puffer Fish. They make nests that look like this.

The lake between Morse Blvd and Freedom Point has the same thing (visible from the MMP). I have no answer, just the same question.

Those circles are where fish lay their eggs

"Pan Fish" are what we called them growing up - Brim, Perch, Blue Gills, etc make their nests and lay eggs. It's a great place to catch pan fish...

Ok so last time I checked Puffer Fish were seagoing creatures!

Yep

When the water was clear we would often see that in the water along the boardwalk at LSL behind the radio station. Sometimes there were LARGE fish just hanging out in them but usually little tykes.

They are called Redds. Fish clean a nest on the bottom to lay their eggs into.

I was hoping for an exotic explanation like dinosaur egg pods but “ fish nests” is the most reasonable. At least that explains all the cigarette butts on the shore. Thanks!

Sometimes the large fish are waiting for breakfast, assuming they were bass :)

I don’t think the are trout.
Redds fish
Featured snippet from the web
The term “redd” refers to the spawning bed of trout in a river or stream. Redds can be identified by a bowl-shaped indentation of clean bright rocks. Redds are formed by trout beating the rocks with their tail-fin. Trout do this to remove moss, dirt, bigger rocks, and debris.

More like Tilapia?

Tilapia nests

Yes tilapia nests.

Jogi lives
 

If the vd had created ascending streams we could have had upstream circus of trout and their best buddies the bears oh me oh ny

Fish nesting beds

Methane bubbles

That where fish lay their eggs, they do this with their tail,

Turtles do this!

Unrelated to your "circles" question.

Water is pumped between Retention/Detention areas in The Villages, which is typically how drainage is controlled. One quirk in The Villages, is that the water cannot be pumped over County lines. In other words, every County maintains its own stormwater and it can't be shared.

Circles in the pond sand
 

Those are spawning beds.

I believe those circles are where fish have laid eggs.

Blue gill make these circles when mating, laying eggs. It is not a puffer fish as they are marine (Salt Water) abd their circles are more intricate.

Roron123 is correct. Turtles!

All freshwater turtles lay eggs on land in holes they have dug. When the eggs hatch, the baby turtles (hatchlings) return to water. The eggs need the heat from the soil to develop and eventually hatch.


Freshwater fish such as bass, bluegills and tilapia create these spawning beds Tilapia make deeper beds which can be seen at the Lake Sumter Boardwalk.