Fabunerds, Let’s talk octopus and why they punch fish. Rude?

Did you know that octopus and fish often hunt together to find prey on reefs? Indeed, octopus and fish work collaboratively to find food much like eels and groupers.

However, Eduardo Sampaio and his colleagues from Germany noted some key differences in the mutualistic behavior of octopus and the fish that hunt with them.  Competition for food can cause the octopus to unravel its tentacle and “punch” a fish who is after the same prey.

Essentially, octopus punch fish out of the way to gain first dibs. Interestingly, the study theorizes that octopus do not always punch in order to obtain food. Sometimes octopus might punch a fish if, for example, that fish stole the prey of the octopus and got away with it.

Additionally, it is thought that octopus might punch fish aggressively to get them to be more collaborative, especially if a fish is not being such a great hunting partner. Some might see this behavior as rude, but maybe it’s just the octopuses way of saying, “get it together and let’s eat!”.