By Christoph — Mi­cro­bi­ol­o­gists know of only a small num­ber of gen­uine ra­pa­cious bac­te­r­ial species. In sci­en­tific terms, they are re­ferred to as "preda­tory bac­te­ria". Well-known ex­am­ples are Myx­o­coc­cus xan­thus and its ilk, which prac­tice "wolf pack" swarm hunt­ing, and the more soli­tary vam­pires from the Bdellovib­rio tribe. En­ter the pi­rates with Cap­tain Au­reispira…