The Moe Howard Of The Sea: New Research Finds That Octopuses Hunt With Other Fish, Punches Them

We've got some news from the world of cephalopods and it has to do with the hunting habits of octopuses, and more importantly, that if they don't get some cooperation from the fish they're hunting with, they'll give 'em a punch like Moe trying to keep Larry and Curly in line.

And later Shemp, Joe Besser, and "Curly" Joe DeRita…

According to NBC News, some new footage shows that one particular species of the Detroit Red Wings good luck charm. Octopus cyanea — also known as the big blue octopus or day octopus — organizes hunting parties consisting of fish, sometimes even multiple species.

The study was published in the journal Nature — I don't read scholarly journals, but that's probably a good place to put it — also found that the octopus is usually the member of the group who organizes and dictates what prey they go after.

But the best part is that they found that the octopus is a bit of a micro-manager — an aggressive one — and it doesn't hesitate to dish out some corporal punishment if its hunting buddies can't keep it together.

That's right they'll just straight-up throw jabs at fish.

That video needs to have the classic Stooges sound effects edited into it. For the good of humanity.

This is one of those discoveries where I can't believe no one saw this sooner. Like, if you were snorkeling and you saw an octopus punch a fish you'd remember it and then would have to tell everyone about it.

"So I come up over the coral reef and — I s--t you not — I see this octopus that just feeds this little fish a knuckle sandwich. I s--t you not…"

This is considered a big discovery, not only because it's kind of hilarious, but because it proves that some octopuses may not be the weird loners they were once thought to be, but may have socializing skills and intelligence previously thought to only exist in vertebrates.

Next time I'm cruising around some reefs — which is very infrequent; I think I'm averaging one reef-cruising every 9.5 years or so — I'm going to be on the lookout for natures punchiest octopus.