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The term swarm (shoaling, swarming or flocking) is applied to fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
, insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s, bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s and microorganisms, such as bacteria, and describes a behavior of an aggregation
Aggregation

Aggregation may refer to:* Link aggregation, using multiple Ethernet network cables/ports in parallel to increase link speed* Purchasing aggregation, combining multiple users of a specific material or service to increase the purchasing power of the combined group....
 (school) of animal
Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life....
s of similar size and body orientation, generally cruising in the same direction.






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School of Reef Fish At Rapture Reef, French Frigate Shoals
The term swarm (shoaling, swarming or flocking) is applied to fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
, insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s, bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s and microorganisms, such as bacteria, and describes a behavior of an aggregation
Aggregation

Aggregation may refer to:* Link aggregation, using multiple Ethernet network cables/ports in parallel to increase link speed* Purchasing aggregation, combining multiple users of a specific material or service to increase the purchasing power of the combined group....
 (school) of animal
Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life....
s of similar size and body orientation, generally cruising in the same direction. Group size
Group size measures

Many animals, including humans, tend to live in groups, herds, flock , bands, Pack , parties, or Bird colony of conspecific individuals. The size of these groups, as expressed by the number of participant individuals, is an important aspect of their social environment....
 is a major aspect of the social environment of participants.

Swarming of honey bees is a more specific term, referring to the reproductive action of an entire colony
Colony (biology)

In biology, a colony refers to several individual organisms of the same species living closely together, usually for mutual benefit, such as stronger defences or the ability to attack bigger prey....
 of bee
Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
s (as opposed to the reproduction of single bees); see Queen bee
Queen bee

The term queen bee is typically used to refer to an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of all the bees in the hive....
 and Honey bee life cycle.

Fish

Heringsschwarm
Shoal can describe any group of fish, including mixed-species groups, "school" is reserved for more closely knit groups of the same species swimming in a highly synchronized and polarized manner.

Fish derive many benefits from shoaling behaviour including defense against predators (through better predator detection and by diluting the chance of capture), enhanced foraging
Foraging

Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavior of animals in response to the environment in which the animal lives....
 success, and higher success in finding a mate. It is also likely that fish benefit from shoal membership through increased hydrodynamic efficiency.

Fish use many traits to choose shoalmates. Generally they prefer larger shoals, shoalmates of their own species, shoalmates similar in size and appearance to themselves, healthy fish, and kin (when recognized).

The "oddity effect" posits that any shoal member that stands out in appearance will be preferentially targeted by predators. This may explain why fish prefer to shoal with individuals that resemble them. The oddity effect would thus tend to homogenize shoals.

One puzzling aspect of shoal selection is how a fish can choose to join a shoal of animals similar to themselves, given that it cannot know its own appearance. Experiments with zebrafish have shown that shoal preference is a learned ability, not innate. A zebrafish tends to associate with shoals that resemble shoals in which it was reared (that is, a form of imprinting
Imprinting (psychology)

Imprinting is the term used in psychology and ethology to describe any kind of phase-sensitive learning that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior....
).

Other open questions of shoaling behaviour include identifying which individuals are responsible for the direction of shoal movement. In the case of migratory
Fish migration

Many types of fish migration on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annual, and over distances ranging from a few meters to thousands of kilometers....
 movement, most members of a shoal seem to know where they are going. In the case of foraging behaviour, ethologist Stephan Reebs, writing in the journal Animal Behaviour, reported that captive shoals of golden shiner
Golden shiner

The golden shiner, Notemigonus crysoleucas, is a cyprinid fish native to eastern North America. It is the sole member of its genus. Much used as a bait fish, it is probably the most widely pond-cultured fish in the United States....
 (a kind of minnow
Minnow

Minnow may refer to:...
) were led by a small number of experienced individuals who knew when and where food was available.

Examples