Team Super Fish
Through this semester in class we have learned that different species of animals have varying ways in which they forage for food. Some species may forage alone, some have groups that forage together. One thing though, which we have not seen is a “super team” of sorts. This is exactly what ecologist Redouan Bshary discovered when he was observing a grouper fish in the Red Sea. Two different species were communicating and working together in order to optimize foraging. The grouper went to a moray eel and shook their head, the moray eel’s response; it came out of the nook in which it was tucked away and went with the grouper.
This created a great deal of interest for Bshary and his colleagues, so they began to study a group of groupers and moray eels in a saltwater coral reef in Egypt. Bshary’s research team noticed that this relationship between the groupers and the eels seemed to go even deeper than Bshary’s original observation might have indicated. The two different species of fish work as a team in varying ways while foraging for food. It was found that the original observation seen (mentioned above), was a signal to the eel to come forage with the grouper. It was also observed that a grouper which had difficulties in foraging on their own is more likely to acquire the help of an eel than an abundantly successful one. Not only did the eel assist the troubled grouper in foraging, but other observations found the relationship to be a truly symbiotic one. For the eel, the grouper would do a headstand of sorts above any small fish it would find. The eel would then come and eat the fish. This is truly only a small look at this revolutionary discovery and the different behavior patterns that exist.
Another ecologist, Chris Stallings, cautioned that this is not the first time to the cooperation between groupers and eels has been noticed, but the aspect of communication denoted by the grouper’s head shaking is in fact exciting and never before noted. Another ecologist, Craig Packer, added to this subject saying that this is proof that communication between animals with small brains is in fact a possibility. Other models that denote communication created in the past have been very complicated requiring the organisms to have long-term memory. This shows a different mode, allowing the groupers to go up to any eel and communicate the desire to forage together.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/1207/2
published by Rachel Baritz (14)
posted by PWH @ 11:23 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I thought this was an interesting article in the way that some species are smarter than we think. It seems to be better for them to forage together so at least they do. The head shaking of them is a good discovery and will allow a new perspective on studying them. The only thing about this post is that there is not a attached article to it, so I couldn't actually read the whole article, but other than that it was intersesting, especially relating to class.
-The last comment was by KDB.
This was a very informative and intersting blog post. I find it amazing that two different species communicate to help assist eachother. How exactly does the grouper benefit from the eel? Is there any paterns in the groupers that get assistance from the eels? are they all young groupers?
Brian Salem(14)
Groupers who had been less successful hunters on their own were more likely to work with eels. As stated by the article, a grouper working with eels were found to be five times more efficient at capturing prey. As for grouper age, there appeared to be no element in the experiment analyzing that aspect, though it would make sense that a younger, less experienced grouper would have more difficulties in hunting on their own.
The last comment (response to other comments) was done by the blogger, Rachel Baritz.
Thank you for your interest KDB. The link is now included, if you would like to read further.
-Rachel Baritz
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