Inter- and intra-species communication in marine animals

By Véronique Barthès-Haffner. A geophysicist, she spent most of her career as an engineer in Grenoble at the CENG. Since retiring, she has taken a greater interest in scuba diving. She now leads groups of divers and teaches them about the underwater environment.

In the underwater world, just as on land, the relationships that animals form with one another are rich and varied but often difficult to interpret, whether they are interspecific (between different species) or intraspecific (between individuals of the same species).

Although the ultimate goal remains the survival and perpetuation of the species, the strategies employed go far beyond the “law of the jungle,” where only the strongest survive and reproduce. As we have recently learned, relationships based on mutual aid and collaboration are in fact the norm.

In this presentation, we will examine relationships in the underwater world from the perspective of social behavior and collaboration, drawing on examples observed during dives or described in the scientific literature.

Since the study of animal behavior—which used to be conducted exclusively in laboratories—began to take the environment into account by observing animals in their natural habitats, we have come to understand that they are capable of reflection, empathy, sensitivity, emotion, and even culture. The complexity of animal intelligence—of which we humans are a part—forms a continuum.