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There's all sorts of weird relationships between sharks and other fish. Like the fish that live off by performing dentistry for sharks inside their mouths. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5EszU8yuA8
The shark seems to be enjoying himself, too, judging from the smile on his face.
A tuna is a seriously fast fish. Note that they rub at the back end of the shark, which is the obvious place to go. If the shark gets annoyed the tuna can get away rapidly and get a very decent head start before the shark has turned and got going. The sharks are probably not bothered about being used for grooming because it is reassuring to have your lunch check in and say hi occasionally. 6,000 camera deployments of…
I don’t know that adult tuna are at much risk from these sharks. Not only are the tuna much faster, but both species are predictors of roughly the same weight with the sharks tending to be smaller and both preferring to hunt smaller fish. Younger or weak specimens could be, but yellowfin tuna presumably also occasionally chow down on significantly smaller sharks.
If this seems strange, remember that tuna have no arms. How else would they scratch themselves?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t know that adult tuna are at much risk from these sharks. Not only are the tuna much faster, but both species are predictors of roughly the same weight with the sharks tending to be smaller and both preferring to hunt smaller fish. Younger or weak specimens could be, but yellowfin tuna presumably also occasionally chow down on significantly smaller sharks.
Maybe the tuna have a way of knowing whether the sharks they use are hungry. Maybe they choose ones which have eaten recently.