These socktopuses throw an average octopunch – and random.
A new paper published in the journal Ecology on Friday found that octopuses hit fish – sometimes to ensure collaborative hunting and sometimes just for the cause.
“OCTOPUS. HIT WITH THE FIST. FISH !!” co-author of the study, Eduardo Sampaio, excited posted on Twitter of his research publication. “It was probably the most fun I’ve had writing a paper. Ever!”
It is known that octopuses and fish hunt together, benefiting from each other’s strengths – unless the sprawling thieves in the ocean decide to put their co-workers together right on the scales.
A handful of octopus looks like “a quick, explosive movement, with one arm pointing at a certain fish partner,” the newspaper describes – an act that costs octopuses a little of their zeal. “[Actively] the fist of a fish partner involves a low energy cost for the actor (ie octopus) “, the authors explain.
The researchers recorded eight octopus fight videos on fish between 2018 and 2019 in the Red Sea involving a variety of victims, including squirrel, black tip, lyrical tail, stockings, yellow saddle and goatfish.
While six of the outbreaks could be linked to obvious octopus motives – including a healthy desire to “ensure collaboration” – two appear to be nonviolent acts of fish. Researchers do not fully understand why octopuses sometimes have violent, aimless episodes, but they believe it could simply be “malicious behavior” or some form of “punishment.”
How injured the fish are by such outbursts – physically and emotionally – are also now beyond the knowledge of science.
“We have never seen permanent marks or anything like that, being punched, but we cannot say for sure whether the fish are injured or not. It is clear that they do not like! ”Sampaio posted on Twitter.
In addition to facing unnecessary appearances of aggression, octopuses are also similar to humans, when they hug, dream, are negatively affected by climate change and prefer groups with a light touch, instead of cooling themselves with a figure of Chewbacca action when dosed with molly.