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Under attack

Trapped between the shore on one side and the warm water on the other, sardines swim straight towards the enermy. They fall back to their instinctive defence mechanism and shoal together in a huge mass to confuse their predators. But the dolphins have a strategy which turns this ball of fish to their advantage. Working together they separate off a pocket of sardines. In smaller numbers the sardines' shoaling mechanism begins to work against them and they are easily coralled to the surface waters, bringing them into further dangers from aerial predators. The sardine baitballs form and reform as they are constantly attacked from all sides, seldom lasting a few minutes at a time. More predators pile into the feast: this time sharks take advantage of the dolphins' previous hard work. All these predators take no notice of each other, the only victims in this place are the millions of sardines

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3 minutes

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