Among color-changing sea creatures, the ability to flash from one hue to another more typically comes in handy for evading predators rather than hunting prey. But the striped marlin, new research shows, uses its mutability not only to pursue food, but to hunt collaboratively. Drone footage of group-hunting marlin (Kajikia audax) portrays the first rapid color change in such teamwork-oriented predators, described in a paper published today in the journal Current Biology from researchers in Germany and the United Kingdom.
Striped marlin can change their exterior from blue-gray to high-contrast stripes in mere moments thanks to cells called iridophores, stacked with thin, crystalline protein plates that act as multilayer reflectors. While we’ve known that marlin can change color this way, this finding introduces how the ability aids hunting behaviors. Changing hues may also have a dual function that lets marlin both coordinate attacks and ambush their prey.
“Color change in predators is rare, but especially so in group-hunting predators,” lead author Alicia Burns, a postdoctoral biology research fellow at Humboldt University, said in a press release. “Although it is known that marlin can change color, this is the first time it's been linked to hunting or any social behavior.”
