Sea Wars? Videos Shows An Octopus Punching A Fish While Hunting

Octopuses are intriguing creatures of the deep sea. They are also one of the most-talked about animals who live in the ocean.

A video of an octopus punching fish out of spite while hunting alongside them near the floor has gone viral on social media.

The footage was recorded by Researchers from the University of Lisbon in Portugal. According to the team, the punching was noticed when octopus and fish were hunting alongside one another.

The video shows the octopus moving towards the fish and hitting them with its tentacles during hunting.

According to a biologist, the punches may have been used to have a gain in stealing prey off a fish. However, the scientists observed that many of the punches were thrown to 'impose a cost' or punish some 'misbehaving' fish.

"Octopuses and fishes are known to hunt together, taking advantage of the other's morphology and hunting strategy," said marine biologist Eduardo Sampaio.

He added, ¡°We found different contexts where these punches occur, including situations where immediate benefits are attainable, but most interestingly in other contexts where they are not."

Also read: Octopus Changes Colours & Camouflages Itself And People Are Freaking Out

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This week, a video of an octopus walking on the ocean floor had gone viral on social media. The video was released by the Discovery Channel and it showed how one octopus managed to walk swiftly along the ocean floor, using what seemed to be its legs.

¡°Some biologists refer to octopuses as having six ¡°arms¡± and two ¡°legs¡±, because the two rear appendages are generally used to walk on the seafloor,¡± the video was captioned.

Also read: Deepest Ever Sighting Of Octopus In Indian Ocean, Scientists Name It 'Dumbo'

The observation of the animal punching a fellow sea creature is even more surprising to experts, as punching is an emotion that researchers equate to 'spite', as in case of humans.