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EveryFish

Shoal and school

A shoal is any group of fish that stay together; a school is a shoal swimming in step, all facing the same way.

Also: shoaling

Biologists use two words. A shoal is a loose social group of fish that keep together, each doing its own thing, such as a group of rohu feeding in a pond. A school is a shoal that moves as one, every fish at the same speed and heading, turning together, as sardines, anchovies and mackerel do. A group can switch between the two in seconds, loosening to feed and tightening into a school when a predator comes. About a quarter of fish species shoal all their lives, and around half do so for some part of it.

See also

Schooling Bait ball Lateral line

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