It even goes for the chin rub at the end. Seriously, though, did anyone else know how playful grouper were? Sure… they don’t shy away from divers especially when something they want (i.e. lionfish) is being blocked or handled by said divers; after all, grouper gotta eat. But this grouper in this video is PLAYFUL — much more playful than any grouper I have ever seen.
The diver in the Cayman Islands, one Paul Kim, told GrindTV via Break.com that he had actually caught the lionfish to feed it to the grouper, but that the grouper grew impatient and didn’t care that a plastic bag wavered between it and the lionfish. Knowing that the plastic bag would be no good for the grouper, the diver had to wrestle it back from the ambitious swimmer a couple times. And when the grouper (like a dog) keeps going for the lionfish in the plastic bag, all the diver has to do to ward it off is usher the fish away with the back of his hand, just like one might do with a wayward labrador.
The coolest part? That aforementioned chin rub. “Groupers are basically the puppies of the sea and love to be petted by divers,” Kim explained.
So, so, sooo cool.
