fry to school?

Question
When does a "ball of fry" become a "school of fish"?

Answer
While this question is really too general to answer precicely because different fish do things differently.  However I have seen balls of tiny catfish and balls of bass being escorted by their fathers.  From what I have herd, and I am far from an expert in this area, both of these species of fish stay in a ball of fry for a few days, probably until the egg sac is used up.  Then suddenly the papa turns on his offspring and tries to eat as many as he can catch.  This, of course, scatters the ball to the four winds, or maybe better currents.  They may come together again after the father leaves and this is probably the first school.  This school breaks up after a time and the fish go their own way until something brings them together again such as spawning.  I have watched bass traveling along as singles from dock to dock in shallow water.  The other day I saw two about the same size crusing along together.  Just before the females go in to spawn they gather in large numbers in some spot just outside the area where the males are going in shallow and beginning to look for places to build nests.  I have run into places where the big females seem to be stacked on top of each other and man is this a find because they are hungry and will hit.
I have caught most of my larger bass in places like this.  I do not think one would call this a school of bass like a school of shad or school of hybrids.  I think they just happen to choose this same place to gather before the spawn.  After the spawn they scatter.  In summer they also sometimes gather in some deep hole or near some special kind of cover.  Again I doubt they are brothers and sisters from the same parents but rather this is just a good place to hole up during hot weather because of plenty of oxygen and food.  At times on certain waters you may see a group of large bass following close to a school of shad, smelt or some other bait fish that does school.  Again I doubt they are a true school of siblings but just a group, perhaps of the same class year but not directly related.

Now I may be completely wrong about all of the generalizations above.  I can only speculate on what I have seen on the water while fishing myself.

You can probably get a more scientific answer by contactling your state fish and game department and talking to a fish  biologist.

If you find out that I am wrong I would appreciate your letting me know where I was off base.

I am

Jack L. Gaither
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