BEHAVIOURAL RESEARCH
Lonely hunter
Lionfish don’t hunt as a team after all – confounding researchers’ expectations.
The original home of the lionfish (Pterois miles) is the Indian Ocean. | Image: Biosphoto/Keystone
The Indian lionfish is an invasive species in the Caribbean that is now displacing native fish. It was initially thought that its success was due to it teaming up with conspecifics to hunt, as do other lionfish. But this turns out not to be the case. Researchers from the University of Neuchâtel have not been able to find any proof of teamwork when this lionfish goes on the hunt – neither out in the wild, nor in laboratory experiments. Even when faced with a prey fish in front of them, two lionfish in an aquarium do not coordinate their hunt, but stalk it alone.
