Fish use sharks as shields to ambush prey, study reveals

Scientists have revealed for the first time that some fish hide behind the shark and enter their prey.

The first unknown behavior was discovered by a team of researchers, including scientists at the University of Edinburgh, a Sandbar shark in the Mediterranean Sea.

A type of small hunter fish appears in video footage under water captured by divers and far -operated vehicles – called Blue Runner – when they use sharks for hunting, they hunt.

Previous research has shown that some fish shadows do shark to remove the shark and hide the parasites from the predators. However, they have never seen their prey hiding behind the shark to ambush anytime.

The video occupied on the coast of Italy’s lampian island revealed 34 examples of blue runners using this hunting strategy. On each occasion, a single fish shadowed a shark for about 30 seconds, which broke down to launch high -speed attacks on small types of fish, such as Damphish.

The analysis of footage shows that fish – which usually hunt into small groups – is more likely to catch its prey by shadeing sharks, which increases their chances of success, the team says.

When hiding behind a shark, Pre saw the approach of a blue runner around 10% time. Conversely, when the fish hunted in the pack, their hunting saw him almost every time – more than 95% attacks – and joined the formation of a defensive schooling.

Along with improving the possibilities of a successful hunting, cinematography behavior can protect blue runners from their predators and help in conserving energy by swimming in the slipstream of shark, saying the team says.

This research is based on multi-year-old comments around the island of Lampione is known as a rare clustering-in which every summer of the sandbar shark occurs.

Is study Published In the journal CircumstancesIt also included researchers at Stezione Zulogica Anton Dohren, National Biodiversity Future Center, CNR-IAS and University of Palermo.

“The study stated how the interaction between the species can run an alternative hunting strategy in marine ecosystems,” said Professor Fabio Budalamenti and CNR-IAS Palemo at the University of Edinburgh.

Stezione Zulogika Anton Dohn’s Dr. Carlo Kattano said, “This unique interaction emphasizes the ecological importance of some remaining shark aggregations, which can affect the structure and function of the ecosystem. Like these, which can have a knock-on effect on other species.”