Intriguing for sure...maybe coincidence...maybe intelligence, or evidence of higher emotional development, or...
...or maybe it's similar to behaviour that hunters often see in the field. I have personally witnessed something like this behaviour being displayed by wild turkeys on many occasions, and by American bison once. I've also read or heard direct testimony of it in other species. A group is stalked by a hunter, who then carefully downs the chosen specimen, which is often the biggest and/or oldest. Its companions, if not immediately pressed and set into flight by the hunter, approach the downed animal, nuzzle or poke it tentatively a couple times...and then, after a shorter or longer time, they sometimes drift away. You can almost hear them thinking "Well, thank goodness he's gone; that guy was a total a-hole..."
But, more often, after they are convinced their former compadre is truly dead, they proceed to whale the everlovin' tar out of the inert body. It's like a final kick at an opponent who can no longer kick back...
But of course we know this isn't the case with Oscars; they are smarter, more in touch with their feelings, and generally more evolved than most of us troglodytic fishkeepers.
