Dinner under the sand
Some small animals hide in the sand. When a ray digs for food, it can send them scurrying. A fish swimming nearby might snap one up.
Look at the edge of the sandy cloud. Can you spot an animal making a dash for it?
Off Malta, divers filmed a fish called a blue runner following two kinds of ray. In the videos it sometimes swims under a bull ray’s fin. It can also swim just above a common stingray’s back.
A fish that sticks close
What are those whiskers for?
A goatfish has two little feelers under its chin. They’re called barbels and help it find food in the sand. When the goatfish digs, nearby fish get a chance to grab anything that wriggles free.
A shake of the head
On a Red Sea reef, a grouper can shake its head to get a moray eel to come hunting. The eel slips into cracks. The grouper stays out in the open, ready for a fish to dart past.
Imagine looking down on the reef. If you were a little fish in that crack, would you stay inside or dart out into open water?