Octopuses In A Fit Of Rage
Octopuses are fascinating animals that are surprisingly intelligent. But if they are in a bad mood they don’t shy away from physical violence.
Image by Vlad Min from Pixabay
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New videos show that octopuses from the species Octopus cyanea sometimes use their tentacles to kill fish that are near them.
For the time being, scientists aren’t sure what causes these fits of rage but a researcher named Eduardo Sampaio thinks that the fish might just be in the way of cooperative hunting and the angry octopuses just deal with it by punching and killing them.
But sometimes, the octopuses “slap” fish even when they aren’t hunting. This might be just them being mean or perhaps even punishment for previous undesirable behavior.
Octopuses punch fishes. YES. OCTOPUSES. PUNCH. FISHES!!
— Eduardo Sampaio (@OctoEduardo) December 18, 2020
Our new paper is out on @ESAEcology, showing that octos express this behavior during collaborative hunting with other fishes. This was probably the most fun I had writing a paper. Ever! (small 🧵)https://t.co/Vwg9BoaSUo pic.twitter.com/PIYuVXpM9t
No matter what the explanation for this behavior is we are certain that there is a complex social dynamic between octopuses and fish that we humans are only beginning to understand.
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