The cephalopods team up with a variety of fish for hunting, and that results in some complex relationship dynamics that can include violence.
Octopuses are leaders of fish, but it seems they’d rather be feared than loved. New observations of underwater hunting behavior reveal that these creatures use corporal punishment to maintain order among their minions, using their many arms to punch at fish, even though the fish are ostensibly their allies.
Many animals engage in cross-species cooperation when it comes to hunting. Despite octopuses generally being seen as solitary creatures, recent research has revealed they often form partnerships to hunt. Rather than team up with other octopuses, however, they team up with several different types of fish.
Scientists have uncovered the secrets of multispecies hunting! Octopuses & fish team up, with fish guiding the hunt and octopuses capturing hidden prey.The marine biologists, led by Eduardo Sampaio from Portugal’s Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre at the University of Lisbon, conducted scuba expeditions in 2018. During these dives, they observed several hunting groups made up of octopuses and various types of fish, including goatfish and different species of grouper.
While this dynamic showed the octopuses weren’t dictators, they were still largely in charge, and would use violence to get their way. The punches, which the biologists defined as an “explosive motion of one arm directed at a specific hunting partner,” would result in the attacked fish being exiled towards the outer portion of the group.In video taken by the biologists during one of their research dives, an octopus can be seen nestled on the seafloor.
The new study built on that research, further delving into the complexities of the cross-species relationships. Goatfish, for example, were great at scouting spots with potential prey. The octopuses ultimately had the final say on whether the group would move and when. While the octopuses would strike out to maintain order, no fish ever made an aggressive move toward the leaders. The fish did, however, sometimes display similar behavior toward each other.
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