Underwater Camera Catches Octopuses Punching Fish Out of Spite

Octopuses are among the world’s most fascinating creatures. The highly complex eight-limbed mollusks are generally very intelligent, exhibiting sophisticated behaviors rarely seen in nonhuman animals. As new video evidence shows, octopuses are also occasionally violent ocean leaders.

A new study shows that some octopuses, specifically the Octopus cyanea , commonly known as the big blue octopus or day octopus, can be found hunting along the seafloor with the aid of different fish species. However, what makes this cooperative fishing expedition especially interesting to scientists is that some octopuses are rather hands-on with their approach, occasionally punching their companion fish to keep them on task. Corporal punishment is alive and well in the sea, at least.

As NBC News explains, it was long believed that octopuses generally hunt alone, relying on camouflage and patience to capture prey. However, as new research demonstrates, at least some octopuses are not only not solo hunters but also showcase characteristics and social behavior no other invertebrate seemingly possesses.

“I think sociality, or at least attention to social information, is way more deep-rooted in the evolutionary tree than we might think,” explains Eduardo Sampaio, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the lead author of the new research paper, Multidimensional social influence drives leadership and composition-dependent success in octopus-fish hunting groups, published last month in Nature.

Sampaio adds that octopuses are much closer to humans in terms of behavior, intelligence, and sentience than previously thought, despite octopuses being so dramatically different from a biological standpoint.

Sampaio and other researchers relied heavily on underwater cameras to observe and record octopus behavior, capturing 120 hours of footage across dives off the coast of Israel. During many hunts, with between two and 10 fish at their side, octopuses punched their comrades on numerous occasions.

“The ones that get more punched are the main exploiters of the group. These are the ambush predators, the ones that don’t move, don’t look for prey,” Sampaio says. The researcher adds that if a fish stopped moving, it was more likely to get punched. So long as the fish kept moving and actively hunting, the octopuses exercised restraint.

Scientists think the octopus primarily benefits from the arrangement because it can watch the fish hunting for prey and gain critical insight into the environment, rather than just searching and hoping for the best. However, it is worth noting that the octopus was not there to steal from the fish. Whoever caught the food got to eat it.

While octopuses are somewhat regularly studied in a laboratory environment, scientists note that the real world is the best lab of all, as octopuses regularly demonstrate different behaviors in nature.

This is far from the first time incredible octopus behavior has been caught on camera. In 2022, a wild octopus “hugged” divers during an amazing interaction. Last year, BBC caught another hugging incident as a real octopus gave a squeeze to a spy camera disguised as an octopus. Earlier this year, National Geographic took an extended look at octopuses in the docu-series Secrets of the Octopus, and PetaPixel chatted with the show’s producer, Dr. Alex Schnell, and its director of photography, Adam Geiger.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.