WASHINGTON (AP) — Some dolphins in Australia have a special technique to flush fish from the seafloor. They hunt with a sponge on their beak, like a clown nose.

This allows the dolphins to protect their noses while stirring up sand on the rocky seabed, helping them to uncover fish hiding underneath.

According to a study, this technique is quite challenging because hunting while carrying a sponge on the face interferes with the dolphins' sharp echolocation sense, which involves emitting sounds and clicks and listening to their echo.