A tightly packed, spherical mass formed by small schooling fish, such as sardines or anchovies, as a defensive response to being hunted from multiple directions by predators including dolphins, sharks, seabirds and larger fish. By clustering together, individual fish reduce their own chance of being singled out, and the resulting feeding frenzy, especially during South Africa's seasonal sardine run, is among the most spectacular predator-prey events in the ocean.
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A bait ball is a defensive formation that small schooling fish or krill form specifically under active attack by predators, and does not occur in the absence of a predation event.
Bait balls are a hallmark, extensively documented feature of the sardine run, forming as predators drive dense shoals of migrating sardines into tight defensive spheres near the surface.
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