Nassau groupers are among some of the most intelligent fish species.
They are found in almost all of the Caribbean Islands including the areas adjacent to the Cayman Islands. Groupers happen to be curious and friendly, and they often follow deep-sea divers.
While the exact reason for these fish following the divers is not known, it is believed that they do so to look for companionship.
Watch as a large grouper fish approaches scuba divers in the video below.
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Video credit: Rumble
In this video, some Nassau groupers can be seen following a family as they enjoy scuba diving near the wall next to Little Cayman Island.
One of the fish can be seen swimming right beside the family and even between them.
The curious and intelligent fish can be seen paying close attention to the scene of the divers roaming around in the water and seem to be intrigued by the bubbles produced by their diving apparatus.
As divers Serena and Chris extend their hands towards the fish, they come even closer as if they wanted to be touched. The warm moment was filmed by Serena and Chris’s father.
The fish swam close to the family a number of times and leaned towards them as they touched, petted and stroked them.
Some people think that groupers exhibit this attitude because petting helps them get rid of parasites. But maybe it’s not all that scientific and they just love being petted and stroked like cats and dogs.
At some popular diving sites, there are some consistent following fish that are even given names by the divers. These fish can follow the divers for up to half an hour at times.
Some groupers are so intelligent as to identify and differentiate between divers. They tend to be attracted more to the divemasters who dive more often than the tourists.
Some experts contemplate that following the divers make it easy for them to hunt as they distract the fish the groupers feast on.
Whatever the reason behind them following the divers might be, they make a good companion of the divers.
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