While we don’t condone punching, a video showing octopuses punching fish that aren’t cooperating in group-hunting efforts is downright hilarious. A new study discusses both the group-hunting behavior among octopuses and their fish friends and the social checking the de facto leader (the octopus) does when some fish don’t pull their weight. (Hint: It’s punching. Octopuses officially punch fish, says science.)
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The study, which published in Nature Ecology & Evolution at the end of September, took a look at multi-species hunting groups containing the otherwise-solitary day octopus (Octopus cyanea) and multiple fish species. Researchers discovered that these group dynamics aren’t always chummy.
“We found that in octopus–fish hunting groups, two forms of direct aggressive interactions exist: fish can displace others by darting towards them, and octopuses can displace fish by punching them,” the research says. “Punching involves an explosive motion of one arm directed at a specific hunting partner, which actively displaces it to outer areas of the group temporarily or permanently.”
At this point, are you thinking, “I gotta see this?” You’re in luck. There’s video evidence.
Watch octopuses punch some uncooperative fish friends here:
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