Giant Fish Follows Scuba Divers To Get His Chin Rubbed

Cassanova is a wild Nassau grouper, but he has become very fond of humans. He lives in a marine park off Little Cayman Island and he sees scuba divers on a daily basis. Because groupers are highly intelligent, he has quickly caught on that scuba divers do him no harm and are gentle creatures. Being inquisitive, he is also very likely to follow divers, just to see what they get up to on his reef. He has even become fond of having his chin scratched or his belly rubbed. Perhaps groupers see this as grooming and a potential way to rid themselves of parasites. It's also possible that it's a social thing. Another theory about why he follows scuba divers is that it has to do with an association that he makes, connecting humans with food. Feeding groupers, or any other wild animal on this reef, is strongly discouraged because it alters behavior of the animals and it creates a dependency on people.