Science!

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 & Evolution1, show that the different species even adopt specific roles to maximize the success of joint hunting expeditions.

“The octopus basically works as the decider of the group,” says co-author Eduardo Sampaio, an animal-behaviour researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany. “There’s a sign that some cognition is occurring here, for sure.”

Although octopuses have been spotted foraging alongside fish before, the relationship between the species has not always been clear.…..

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03127-5
Octopuses don’t always hunt alone — but their partners aren’t who you’d expect.

A new study shows that some members of the species Octopus cyanea maraud around the seafloor in hunting groups with fish, which sometimes include several fish species at once.

The research, published in the journal Nature on Monday, even suggests that the famously intelligent animals organized the hunting groups’ decisions, including what they should prey upon.

What’s more, the researchers witnessed the cephalopod species — often called the big blue or day octopus — punching companion fish, apparently to keep them on task and contributing to the collective effort.

Octopuses have often been thought to avoid other members of their species and prowl solo using camouflage. But the study suggests that some octopuses have surprisingly rich social lives — a finding that opens a new window into the marvels of undersea life.

It’s an indication that at least one octopus species has characteristics and markers of intelligence that scientists once considered common only in vertebrates.


https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/octopuses-hunt-with-fish-punch-video-rcna171705