Octopus caught on video hunting with fish, punishing slacker fish with tentacle punches
Octopuses are known to be highly intelligent, capable of opening jars and navigating mazes, and have been reported to hunt alongside a variety of fish.
Multidimensional social influence drives leadership and composition-dependent success in octopus-fish hunting groups | Nature Ecology & Evolution
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02525-2
Octopuses and fish caught on camera hunting as a team
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03127-5
Octopuses seen hunting with fish and punching fish that don’t cooperate
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/octopuses-hunt-with-fish-punch-video-rcna171705
Octopuses have been seen hunting together with fish before, but the relationship between the two was not clear until now.
Eduardo Sampiano of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior and his team captured 120 hours of footage during dives in the Red Sea, during which they captured 13 instances of ringed octopuses working with a variety of other fish to catch small fish and mollusks.
Video S4 lq – YouTube
According to the research team, the ringed octopus stayed in a specific place and gave instructions to the surrounding fish. “The surrounding fish presented the octopus with various options, and the octopus seemed to choose the best option from among them,” said Sampiano.
In addition, the octopus was seen hitting a grouper with its tentacles while hunting, which had stuck to the group without helping with the search for food. The research team pointed out that this behavior “may have been an attempt to punish or drive away opportunistic fish from the group.”
Below is an example of an octopus actually punching a fish. The fish surrounded by the red frame stays on the reef and does not leave the octopus’ side.
Unable to bear the sight any longer, the octopus stretched out its tentacles and punched the fish, causing the fish to move away from the octopus.
I found another fish on the seabed again.
He quickly extends his tentacles and punches.
According to Sampiano, the fish that are most likely to be punched by an octopus are those that lie in wait to catch food. “If the school stays still and all the fish don’t move away from the octopus, they will be punched by the octopus. However, if the fish in the school are moving, the octopus will not punch them because they are searching for prey,” Sampiano said.
“This is an intriguing study and may help us understand better why groups of octopuses and fish, two very different species, gather together,” said Hannah McGregor, an animal behaviourist at the University of Cambridge. “However, more research is needed to explore how groups behave in different environments.”
As for future plans, the research team said, “We plan to investigate whether octopuses can recognize fish that they have previously punched and exhibited opportunistic behavior.”
