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An inter-specific behavioural association between a highfin grouper (Epinephelus maculatus) and a reef octopus (Octopus cyanea)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2012

Richard K.F. Unsworth  and
Leanne C. Cullen-Unsworth
Richard K.F. Unsworth*
Affiliation:
Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research, College of Science, Wallace Building, Swansea UniversitySA2 8PP, UK
Leanne C. Cullen-Unsworth
Affiliation:
Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University, 51 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: R.K.F. Unsworth, Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research, College of Science, Wallace Building, Swansea UniversitySA2 8PP, UK email: r.k.f.unsworth@swansea.ac.uk
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Abstract

Groupers and reef octopus are economically and ecologically important predators on Indo-Pacific coral reefs and known as solitary hunters. Here we describe a highly unique and unusual observation of a behavioural non-random association between the highfin grouper (Epinephelus maculatus) and the reef octopus (Octopus cyanea) in the Great Barrier Reef. Such an observation is highly novel given that the association crosses both the phyla and the invertebrate to vertebrate divide. The present study hypothesizes that the association is non-random and potentially the result of cooperative hunting but as such this requires further evidence and testing.

Keywords

cooperative huntingGreat Barrier Reefinter-specificcoral reef
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 5 , August 2012 , e97
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

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References

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