Why Do Fish School?

You might think that fish ride the undercurrents with all their buds to avoid the hungry mouths of predators - safety in numbers, right? But, it turns out, there’s more to consider when asking why fish swim in schools.

Hosted by: Hank Green

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[dan_loup]

"Yep, time to build a robot to test this out" probably don't happen very often, but it must be cool as heck everytime it is.

[rosemarym]

Based on this logic, the fish in my tank must be homeschooled.

[mdr]

What's really amazing is all the little fish diplomas

They synchronize to the rhythm of their peers. So they aren’t just moving together, they’re dancing!
Could our own tendency to sync to rhythms be related?

[SlideRulePirate]

"OK, let's see if we can find something out and even if we don't ... HEY, We built a robot fish!!!"

[sitherax]

This gave me a huge nostalgia hit as I just finished me senior thesis paper on this exact topic last summer. Good memories hunched over many of the same papers and figures referenced in the video.

[mercurialdanny]

Fish have a different nervous system than humans so I'd imagine that they feel the currents to a sensitive degree, helping them find that vortex. Seems like there is many benefits for a school! Maybe we're seeing proof to the evolution of socializing and how it benefits all of us individually.

[TakoyakiStore]

Oh that's interesting. I had just assumed schooling helped fish sense the environment around them quicker, and that their lateral line system allowed their movements to sync up so well.

[Master_Therion]

Wait, so fish actually congregate to form a school? Where I live, most schools are doing remote learning.

[Bob-dprs]

Fish: school
Americans: so anyway, i started blasting

[itsonlyafleshwound]

There is a possible other explanation for the lower metabolic rate: schools of fish need a lot of food for everyone to get fed, so a lot of them may not get to eat a lot of the time, so a lower metabolic rate would allow them to go hungry without starving for longer.

[jp]

When you realize fish have more schooling than you and you wonder where your dead end career is going to take you in life

[jakethomason]

Fish actually do make formations like that. I catch finger mullet with a castnet +50 times a year and the schools are almost v-shaped back from a leader. like birds.

[TheRogueWolf]

They saw all those "Stay in school" PSAs in the '90s and really took them to heart.

[socraja]

So that a whale comes in and eat the whole school.
.
"You know, I'm not scared to die if we do all together", said a little fish.

[mreeeeeegf]

They're not less stressed when in schools, they are more stressed when alone. This is an important difference, as the stress motivates them to school in the first place. Something has to drive this behaviour after all

[gildedpeahen]

Makes me happy to think of fish chillin with their best buds

[cassa]

So schooling has to do something with biology and fishics. Interesting!

[lucybeasinger]

To the guy who designs the backgrounds on hank, I appreciate you. It’s just the right amount of visual interest

[chrissiec]

To learn what they can eat. Personally I learn from Hank’s tiktok