“Octopuses normally hunt alone, but footage captured by divers has revealed that they can collaborate with fish to find their next meal. The videos, described today in Nature Ecology & Evolution (citation 1), show that the different species even adopt specific roles to maximize the success of joint hunting expeditions.”
Associated research article (open access): Sampaio E et al. Multidimensional social influence drives leadership and composition-dependent success in octopus–fish hunting groups. Nature Ecology & Evolution (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02525-2
Same news that was independently reported by Science News (might need membership): https://www.science.org/content/article/some-octopuses-treat-fish-hunting-buddies
Wow, the best part being that the octopus “punched” opportunistic fish who don’t help in the hunt.
Epinephelus fasciatus has been removed from the group.
Sounds like the octopus wrangler knows how to leverage the behaviors of the various animals around it towards it’s own ends. Pretty interesting! I’m also curious about their potential follow ups to see if they have memory for and can recognize previous group members.
