14/08/2022
Do you know the difference between school & shoal?
These two terms are commonly used interchangeably, but there actually is a distinction between them. A shoal is a group of fish congregating together to benefit from “safety in numbers” but not moving or behaving in unison. They may be facing every which way with one specimen snatching plankton from the water column, another showing off to the opposite s*x, still another browbeating a subordinate, and so forth.
A shoal becomes a school when all of the members of the group coordinate their movements and behavior, for example, swimming tightly together on the same heading, changing direction in unison, etc.
