Come On, Moray boy, Let's Go Hunting!

[Tuckerfan]

Groupers and moray eels team up to go hunting.

Moray eels and grouper fish should be enemies, since they compete for the same prey. But now, scientists have extensively documented them hunting together in the Red Sea. According to behavioral ecologist Redouan Bshary of the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, a grouper will actually invite a moray eel to a joint hunt with a distinctive head shake. If the eel accepts, the grouper hunts in the open water, while the eel wriggles into the crevices of coral reefs.

Pretty danged clever for fish.

[Muffin]

Tuckerfan, you could run a meta-site. You consistently link to the neatest articles. Thanks for bringing such sites to our attention.

[Polycarp]

When an eel, wanting prey,
Asks a grouper to play,
That’s a moray!

[Quartz]

I saw this on a BBC nature program a few weeks ago. It’s really cool. They also showed similar behaviour with another fish and snakes. As you say, one group is in the open water, and the other in the crevices, so the prey gets caught either way.

[garygnu]

Pretty clever.
I love morays. I even did a documentary video on one in college. (Tech didn’t expect underwater footage shot in advance of the class. )