One For All and All For One

By any stretch of the imagination, the Bobbit worm is a nightmarish predator. With powerful jaws like a steel trap, this master of the ambush buries itself nearly completely in the sandy ocean floor to lie in wait for its prey. Any fish unlucky enough to wander into its reach is snatched up in the blink of an eye and dragged down into the monster worm’s burrow to meet its doom...

But although it is undoubtedly a deadly hunter, the normally placid fish it feeds on are more than willing to put up a fight. Indeed scientists observing the Peters' monocle bream (Scolopsis affinis) have discovered that the fish have found a way to work together to see off the fearsome predator. Whenever one of the fish discovers a Bobbit worm or sees a fellow bream being caught, it swims to the entrance of the worm’s burrow, swims vertically face-down above it, and spits sharp jets of water in the Bobbit’s direction. Other Monocle breams that see this brave attack will then join in and “mob” the worm with a furious barrage of water jets until it is forced to retreat.

This understandably ruins the worm’s day, as not only has it lost a meal, but its cover is now blown, making it impossible to launch any further surprise attacks. This team effort is as remarkable as it is effective, and it just goes to show that in the oceans as on the land, bullies can often be sent packing with a show of defiance, and sometimes fortune favours the bold...