Evolutionary dynamics of collective behavior across the tree of ray-finned fishes.

Collective movement in 2,839 Actinopterygian fishes shows strong evolutionary stability in some clades and extreme lability in others, with over 300 evolutionary transitions.

• Why it matters: Collective behaviors emerge from interactions and can affect fitness, but it was unknown whether their evolutionary patterns mirror individual traits or relate to macroevolutionary diversification.
• What they did: Using machine learning for text and image analysis, the study quantified collective movement phenotypes across nearly 10% of extant ray-finned fish species and tested ecological links.
• The result: Collective movement is associated with more patchy diets and higher predation pressure, and its evolution coincides with an increase in net macroevolutionary diversification rate.

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