Faculty of Life Sciences, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 42, 10115 Berlin, Germany; Cluster of Excellence "Science of Intelligence", Marchstr. 23, 10587 Berlin, Germany.
Cluster of Excellence "Science of Intelligence", Marchstr. 23, 10587 Berlin, Germany.
Curr Biol. 2024 Feb 26;34(4):R131-R132. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.040.
A major challenge for group-hunting predators is coordinating movement at high speed. Billfish - large predators with an elongated rostrum (bill) - include some of the fastest animals in the ocean and often form groups when hunting. This presents a challenge: how do fast-moving predators wielding dangerous weaponry reliably coordinate their attacks to avoid injury? We report a possible solution to this problem through rapid colour change in group-hunting striped marlin (Kajikia audax) as they hunt schools of Pacific sardines (Sardinops sagax). By analysing high-resolution drone footage of marlin attacks, we found that individual marlin intensified the contrast of their body stripes immediately prior to striking prey schools, before rapidly decreasing intensity after their attack. This suggests that color change may be a reliable signal of motivation to attack, potentially deterring conspecifics from attacking.
对于群体狩猎的捕食者来说，一个主要的挑战是在高速运动中协调行动。旗鱼——一种长有喙（喙）的大型捕食者——包括一些海洋中最快的动物，它们在捕猎时经常成群结队。这就带来了一个挑战：如何让使用危险武器的快速移动捕食者可靠地协调攻击以避免受伤？我们通过研究成群结队的条纹马林鱼（Kajikia audax）在捕食太平洋沙丁鱼（Sardinops sagax）时的快速变色，报告了一个可能的解决方案。通过分析马林鱼攻击的高分辨率无人机镜头，我们发现个体马林鱼在攻击猎物群之前会立即增强身体条纹的对比度，然后在攻击后迅速降低强度。这表明颜色变化可能是攻击动机的可靠信号，可能会阻止同类攻击。
