Watch Sea Snakes Cooperate with Fish to Hunt
Sunday, 22 March 2026
In the coral reefs of Indonesia, something remarkable happens on remote coral reefs. The Banded Sea Krait, which lays its eggs on land but hunts in the water, has a problem. They aren’t fast enough to catch free-swimming fish, so resort to trying to find those hiding among the coral. A single bite is sufficient to paralyse prey, but getting at it is the problem! Fortunately (for them), they get assistance from the yellow goat fish which live around the reef, as well as trevally fish – and together they form what can only be described as a pack – at some points in this film there are around fifty snakes and countless fish, banding together with only one thing in mind – food!
The fish will chase the prey into the coral and then the snakes
go in. When some of the smaller fish try to escape, then the yellow goat fish
and trevally are waiting for them. It’s a win-win situation for both the snakes
and the fish. It is thought that this
behavior was much more widespread when Indonesia’s reefs were pristine, but
these days it only happens in some of the more remote reefs – the main reason
why this kind of hunting is not seen very often.
Watch the intriguing video from BBC Earth below.
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