Pacific Sardine

Pacific sardines form schools containing millions of individuals moving in tight coordination. When threatened, they execute 'flash expansion' - explosive dispersal that confuses predators by replacing a single target with millions of equally valid options. The school's collective behavior creates cognitive overload for attackers.

Sardine schooling demonstrates the selfish herd principle - individuals reduce personal risk by positioning others between themselves and predators. This creates inward pressure that tightens school density, with each fish selfishly seeking the safest central position. The school's coherence emerges from individual survival calculation, not group altruism.

The business parallel applies to competitive herding for protection. Companies in uncertain markets often cluster, adopting similar strategies to reduce the chance of being singled out. If everyone does the same thing, any failure is industry-wide rather than firm-specific. The 'school' provides cover through shared fate.

Sardines also demonstrate boom-bust population dynamics. Their populations collapse and recover in multi-decade cycles, driven by ocean conditions and predation pressure. Industries similarly show sardine-like cycles - explosive growth followed by collapse followed by recovery. Understanding cycle position matters more than current population size.