There’s nothing more amazing than to see two apex predators locked in the throes of battle. Such is the case for this video from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, which shows two deepwater predators right in the middle of their proverbial game of life or death chess. Aplty titled “The law of beak and claw”, the clip explains the nature of each predator: the black-eyed squid is an active and formidable predator that feeds on fish, while the owl fish is more of the lay and wait type. Unfortunately for the owl fish, his hunting and evasion strategies have failed him, allowing the noticeably smaller squid to successfully attack and presummable kill it.
According to the video, this embrace isn’t uncommon. It is just that this time, the fish’s defense mechanisms weren’t enough to hold off a hungry squid. Normally, the owl fish might evade the attacking squid, or at the very least brush it off by shedding scales. Every once in a while, however, the squid assault is successful, and being that these marine organisms live in the deep where there is very little life, it comes as no surprise that the squid would attack a fish almost twice its size.
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