Page 99 - (DK) Super Shark Encyclopedia: And Other Creatures of the Deep

SUPER-SIZED

SCHOOL

SARDINE

Some kinds of fish love to get together, and when
sardines assemble they make some of the biggest
schools of all. Each year, billions of them follow the cool
ocean currents that stream up the east coast of Africa,
making such a spectacle that the event is called the
sardine run. The total weight of moving animals might
be the heaviest migration on the planet. Sardines
are small fish of the herring family that find safety in
numbers. A big school might look like easy pickings, but
a predator will find it difficult to focus on a single moving
target among the silver, shimmering mass of fish.

AT A GLANCE

• SIZE 6–12 in (15–30 cm) long
• HABITAT Open ocean waters,
but especially near continents
with an abundance of plankton
• LOCATION Worldwide
• DIET Small planktonic animals

STATS AND FACTS

LENGTH OF A GIANT SCHOOL
No one is sure why a
miles 5 10 15
giant sardine run comes
together to school, but
some think it is triggered km 10 20 30
SCHOOLING TOGETHER by yearly changes in the 9 miles (15 km)
ocean currents.
A massive school of sardines DEPTH OF A GIANT SCHOOL
moves about like a single
ft 50 100 150
gigantic living thing. A single EST. SCHOOL SIZE
fish is safer mixed among lots m 20 40 60
of others, and by streaming 10 98 ft (30 m)
together it might take less
effort to swim, too.
MILLION
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