Fish schools move in perfect coordination primarily to protect themselves from predators, improve their food search efficiency, and communicate with each other.
Fish exchange information through quick visual signals and subtle changes in movement. If one turns sharply, its neighbors immediately pick up on this impulse and follow the movement. A lateral line system, a type of sensory organ located along the body, allows them to precisely detect vibrations and water displacement caused by nearby partners. There's no need to speak: their bodies are enough to convey everything needed to stay together and avoid collisions. This discreet and hyper-fast form of communication allows for perfect synchronization of the entire school.
Moving together in synchronization offers fish a highly effective confusion advantage against predators. A very dense and well-coordinated school creates a sort of screen that blurs the predator's vision. This makes it difficult for the predator to isolate a prey, slowing down its attacks and reducing its chances of success. This anti-predator strategy is called the confusion effect, and it causes the predator to hesitate, stress, or even abandon its hunt altogether. Another essential advantage is the dilution effect. The larger and more synchronized a school is, the considerably lower the probability for each individual to be caught: in short, each fish benefits from the numbers to save its skin. Finally, some schools spontaneously adopt particular geometric shapes, such as a compact ball (bait ball) or a sort of spiral whirlpool, making their capture even more complicated for the attacker.
Fish primarily use their lateral line, a sensory system that runs along their bodies. This kind of "sensory radar" detects changes in pressure and movements in the water created by their neighbors, allowing them to react almost instantly to the group's movements. Their peripheral vision also plays an important role, constantly monitoring the position and speed of surrounding fish. With these combined senses, each fish instinctively adjusts its speed and direction, creating impressive coordination across the entire school.
Moving together allows fish to benefit from a drafting effect, much like cyclists riding in a group to reduce their effort. Each fish takes advantage of the turbulence created by those in front of it, thereby decreasing the resistance of the water it has to overcome. Less energy expended means more resources available for other essential activities like foraging for food or avoiding predators. Good synchronization of fins and body movements further amplifies this effect, making collective swimming particularly effective over long distances. It is simply more economical to swim in harmony with neighbors than to go solo.
Fish heavily rely on their sight to precisely align their trajectories with those of their neighbors. They constantly observe the movements and changes in direction of nearby fish, allowing them to react very quickly, almost without delay. When it is dark or the water is murky, coordination becomes more complicated, demonstrating that vision is vital.
On the auditory side, the lateral line, a kind of radar sensitive to vibrations in the water, plays a central role. It allows fish to detect changes in the current caused by the movements of other members of the school. Thanks to this particular auditory sense, even when visibility is poor, schools maintain astonishing coordination by simply sensing the movements of their immediate surroundings.
Fish possess a specific sensory organ called the 'lateral line,' which is capable of detecting even the slightest variations in pressure caused by water movements, helping them synchronize their movements in real time.
Each fish in a school primarily monitors its close neighbors: this simple behavior at a small scale leads to impressive synchronization at a large scale, a phenomenon studied in the theory of complexity and self-organizing systems.
The scientific term describing the coordinated behavior observed in fish and other animals such as birds (starlings' flocks) or insects (swarm of locusts, bees, etc.) is 'stigmergy.'
Some schools of fish gather thousands, even millions of individuals, but despite their considerable numbers, they manage to move fluidly and harmoniously, without collisions.
Rapid changes in direction allow fish to effectively evade predators. These unpredictable maneuvers confuse potential predators and make it more difficult for them to target a specific victim, thereby increasing the group's chances of survival.
No, fish do not possess a true language as we know it. They rather use visual, tactile, or auditory signals to communicate, constantly adjusting their movements based on the actions and positions of their nearby peers.
Contrary to what one might think, schools of fish generally do not have a fixed leader or dominant fish. Each fish adjusts its movement based on its immediate neighbors, resulting in that coordinated and harmonious movement without central supervision.
Fish swimming in schools generally expend less energy. The hydrodynamic effect created by their formation reduces the water resistance on each individual, making their movement more efficient and less energetically costly.
No, not all fish live in schools. Some species prefer a solitary or territorial lifestyle. The social lifestyle of schooling mainly pertains to species that benefit from it for their protection, feeding, or reproduction.
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