In the extraordinary documentary Blue Planet there were several examples of a school of fish forming a bait ball to defend against predators, where a school of fish swirls into itself, becoming a tightly-knit unit; however, what we see in the documentary is this school of fish becoming easy prey for a variety of larger predators, as marlins, seabirds, and even a whale come in to tear it to pieces in a feeding frenzy. On the one hand, there are safety in numbers with the fish gathering into a school; on the other hand, the bait ball seems like an evolutionary maladaptation, allowing predators to herd their prey into an easily consumed mass. The advantages of the school must outweigh the disadvantages; otherwise, smaller fish would have evolved to flee in all directions when threatened.
Check out when a blue whale swallows this bait ball whole:
As I was indulging in space warfare escapism with Star Trek Online, I saw how a team I was working with mimicked the flocking behaviors of certain animals. We flew together like a flock of birds into a battle against some Klingons, taking position in the center of the arena, and then pulled into a tightly-knit ball, flying circles around each other and daring our enemies to engage it. We had formed a bait ball, but one armed to the teeth and ready to lash out at the predators attempting to herd us. The tactic works exceptionally well, as the Klingon offense eventually cracked, taking the bait, and having their assault fall to pieces against our unified school of Federation starships.
Federation Starship Bait Ball
I still don’t know how it works to the advantage of bait fish though.
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