Molluscs j crustaceans victims of a surprising ‘alliance’ between octopuses j pieces: lox octopuses They lead the team and pieces They explore the area. They search molluscs or crustaceans organize based on specific roles within the group.
And octopus it’s a animal aquatic invertebrates, which are part of the phylum mollusks. It has a soft body, with no shell to protect it, and it is eight tentacles. Because of this characteristic, octopuses are also called octopuses.
These tentacles have suction cups that stick. The octopuses They also have three hearts: a pair of them are responsible for carrying healthy towards the gills, while the others promote blood circulation to the other body areas.
The octopuses They are usually considered solitary animals, but some species hunt in groups with other fish. With them, more complex group interactions arise than previously assumed.
Research shows that octopuses and fish appear to share leadership in these mixed hunts. This research was conducted by Nature ecology and evolution and is led by Eduardo Sampaio, researcher at the University of Lisbon and the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, based in Germany.
How does the predator team work?
Previous observations suggested that The octopuses led the hunt, while the fish normally followed them, but later findings by the team during underwater expeditions in the Red Sea indicate that the group interactions They are more complex.
The team viewed and documented 120 hours of 13-hour dives. hunting groupsformed by octopuses ‘Octopus cyanea’ and other fish such as redfish or groupers, looking for molluscs or crustaceansto examine whether leadership was established for different types of decisions. In these groups, social influence is not distributed evenly, but rather hierarchically structured in multiple dimensions, reflective specialized roles within the groupas Sampaio explains.
The role of each animal in the hunting party
The fish, special the chickenare responsible for the exploration of the areabecause they determine the direction of the group. They act as an extensive sensory system for the octopuseswhich covers larger areas and improves the effectiveness of prey detection. This beneficial interaction allows fish to capture otherwise unreachable prey and allows octopuses to conserve energy by focusing on high-quality food sources, while also exerting control and providing feedback within the group.highlighting the advanced cooperative dynamics of marine life.
On the other hand, the octopus determines the moment and checks the beginning of everyone’s movement. It is the one that affects this aspect the most, because the researchers saw how the explorer fish were moved to the outer areas of the group. to “bumps”.
This attitude strengthens this animal’s position as de facto leader and helps it maintain the benefits it receives from collaborating partners, said Sampaio, quoted in a statement from the University of Konstanz (Germany).
The study shows that leadership can come from both encouraging and inhibiting movement in others, researchers said aggressive control mechanisms observedlike fish that drove others away when the octopus came towards them.
Alliance to catch the prey
When prey is captured, it does not split, «“Whoever catches it first gets it.”the researcher specifies, but as the interaction between fish and octopus is repeated several times during a huntthe prey is shared in the sense that sometimes it’s the octopus that catches it and sometimes the fish does it.
Sampaio indicates that although the ‘Octopuscyanea‘ is solitary, it can also exhibit remarkable social competence and cognitive flexibility, adapting its behavior in response to the actions of different species.
These results “expand our understanding of leadership and the ability to socialize, and highlight the complexity and adaptability of social interactions in nature,” Sampaio said.
Even though they know each other other types of mixed hunting packslike badgers and coyotes, mixed birds and moray eels and groupersappear to be behaviorally less flexible in using social information to change strategy than others octopus and fish hunting groups.