Scientists have released a study describing how a colorful fish called the coral trout recruits moray eels to help hunt prey, with both of them ending up full in the end.
Aquarium experiments showed that the coral trout are very picky when it comes to deciding on an eel partner for the job, according to Reuters.
The scientists mentioned that the trout performed as well as chimpanzees during a 2006 study, which showed how they assisted one another in a food-gathering task.
Coral trout use communicative body gestures like head shakes and headstands to find their hunting partners, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology.
Trout possess the speed to chase down fish out in the open, and the moray eel boast a sinuous body which allows it to get any fleeing prey that hides in hard-to-reach coral crevice.
They team up on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, according to the study.
Some moray eels in the wild are more helpful than others however. In controlled environment tests moray eel models were used to test how well wild coral trout caught for the study could decide a good partner from a bad one.
One of the models was designed to come to the coral trout's aid and flush out prey. The other eel went the opposite direction.
The trout were able to quickly decide which eel model was the better partner and recruited the good collaborator three times more often, according to the study.
"This shows that a big mammalian brain is not necessarily required to undertake these sophisticated forms of communication," said Alexander Vail, a marine biologist and zoologist at Britain's University of Cambridge, who led the study, according to Reuters.
"Although the brains of mammals are certainly larger than those of fish, size may not be all that matters, and we are still a long way from a thorough understanding of fish brains and the mental computation they may capable of," Vail added.
Eel partners benefit by being able to eat the fish chased into reef crevices by the trout. The trout benefit by being able to eat the fish the eel doesn't catch.
"Each of these large predators is out for itself in their collaborative relationship, but they both do far better by working together and using communication to coordinate the hunt," Vail said. "Both predators capture roughly the same number of prey items when hunting together."
Researchers have found similar collaboration with eels by roving coral grouper fish as well. Vail said similar skills probably exist in other animals around the globe.
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