It’s thought that shoaling or schooling behavior among fish confers various biological benefits: the proliferation of targets reduces any single fish’s risk of being eaten by predators, and it increases the chances of finding a suitable mate. Less well understood, however, is the relationship between a group’s behavior style and the likelihood of it coming under attack. Aren’t they also making themselves a more conspicuous, easier target?

Now, researchers have used a video game projected into a fish tank to study the behavior of predatory bluegill sunfish, and the results, published in the journal Science, suggest schooling behavior actively deters predators.