Schooling Behavior and Feeding of Fish

Schooling makes it easier for fish to find food objects, increases the intensity of feeding and, as a result, improves food supply. The effect is achieved due to well-developed imitative behavior and stress reduction in schooling fish. Staying in a school increases the duration and frequency of feeding, expands the range of available food items, allows the development of new spatial and food resources, reduces the time spent on restoring feeding behavior after stressful loads due to a change in biotope, threat or attack by a predator, and in other cases. Forming a school makes it possible to overcome the resistance of territorial fish that protect food resources in their home areas. Higher feeding efficiency in a school equally affects both non-predatory and predatory schooling fish. However, being in a school can presumably also lead to increased intra-school food competition.