With few exceptions, the important behavioral characteristics of clupeiforms are schooling and diurnal (daily) vertical movements. Schools are formed with larvae or young juveniles. A fish less than 10 mm (0.4 inch) long approaches the tail of another; both vibrate their bodies in a series of rapid motions, after which they swim together. Occasionally they are joined by others, and, as the fish grow a few more millimetres in length, the first small schools increase in size and begin to show a steady schooling pattern. Opinions differ on whether the school keeps together through visual contact—it sometimes tends to break up at night—or through sensations received by the lateral line system, a series of sensory endings extending along the side of the fish. When the schools do persist after nightfall, the lateral line system may also play a significant role in preventing one fish from straying.

Single schools of herring or anchoveta have been estimated to include many millions of individuals, and some authorities assert that as many as three million fish may occur in a single school. Even a big school such as this behaves as if it were one organism, with a roughly spherical shape that is flattened when the school comes into shallow waters or approaches the surface. Within a school of anchovies, the larger individuals tend to be below and the smaller ones above, so that light is allowed to filter through the whole school. There are limits to the size of individuals in any big school; for herring, the difference between the largest and smallest members of a school is about 50 percent. Fishes above or below the size limit break away and form schools among themselves, but even large uniform schools occasionally break apart, and small schools may fuse into larger units. The uniform size of individuals within a school (mostly the same age group) is of convenience to humans and the fishing and canning industries, as the fish sort themselves out naturally.

Within the school, each fish usually is spaced evenly with enough room between it and the others to swim but not to turn around. In all schools of some species, and in some schools of others, the fish swim with their heads side by side; in other species (such as herring) the head of each fish lies next to the middle of its neighbour’s body. The schools may spread out or become very tight, depending on the situation.

The primary advantage of the schooling habit seems to lie in the safety of the individual fish. Sardines react to attacks by predators by swimming closer together and milling around in tight, compact balls; herring form a close school with any approach of danger. The reaction of anchovies to predators is even more intense; a school that may be spread over several hundred metres contracts at the approach of a predator to a moving, writhing sphere of thousands of fishes only a few metres across. In such a situation the predator cannot concentrate on a single individual and may be frustrated in its attempt to catch any fish.

The adaptive value of schooling behaviour is poorly understood, but several logical explanations have been advanced. Schooling evidently provides a better chance for small fish to survive many environmental hazards than if they live solitarily. The instinctive tendency of the tiny larvae to associate, even though hatched from scattered eggs, ensures the formation of the school—with its protection from predation. Certain hydrodynamic interactions between members of the school are thought to facilitate feeding movements, and the aggregation of so many fish simplifies the finding of mates.

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Why Do Animals Have Tails?

Although anchovy schools progress steadily through the water, they do not seem to have any leader or leader groups. Observers from the air have noted that

fish travelling in the vanguard often drop back and are replaced by others from the flanks and this is repeated in due course. When the school changes course, the fish from the flank find themselves on the leading edge and the previous leading edge becomes a flank. These manoeuvres are carried out with such precision that one has the impression of watching a single creature moving through the water.

The behaviour of the school is determined most probably by the order of feeding. If a school were to swim straight forward, the fish in front would capture most of the food organisms, and those in the rear would starve. Instead, the leading individuals turn back to either flank and, step by step, return to the rear of the school; in this way each fish gets its turn to feed.

The depth at which the schools swim depends on the movements of plankton, light intensity, temperature, and the maturation cycle of gonads (that is, whether the fish are in breeding condition). There are diurnal vertical movements of schools, related mainly to the corresponding movements of plankton. Most clupeiform schools are believed to stay near the bottom or in deep water during the day and to move toward the surface during the night. Herring often vertically migrate from depths of 300 to 400 metres (roughly 1,000 to 1,300 feet) during the day toward the surface water at night and thus move from deep cold waters of about 3 °C (37 °F) to somewhat warmer surface waters of 5 °C to 7 °C (41 °F to 45 °F). On moonless nights, clupeid schools can be attracted to beams from strong lights and congregate near the surface—a behavioral pattern often exploited by fishermen.