Begins hunting like a sea-wolf (8)
I believe the answer is:
aspirate
'begins hunting' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'like a sea-wolf' is the wordplay.
'like' becomes 'as'.
'a sea-wolf' becomes 'pirate' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'as'+'pirate'='ASPIRATE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aspirate that I've seen before include "The sound of h from parasite" , "Higgins's initial" , "Introduction of hamadryad, perhaps" , "Pronounce a leading H" , "H sound - suck air in or out" .)