from wikimedia, totodu74
The Panicked Crowd
In a shallow lagoon, reef lizardfish took advantage of the natural protection of a hollow in the sea bottom. They rested, surrounded by the coral and rocks. Soon, their scales adjusted color and they blended in with the sandy floor. They barely moved, drifting just enough to let water slip over their gills. They lay in wait for their prey.
A pair of blue crabs crept across the edge of the rock shelf.
Later, a few more crabs shuffled through. Two of them clambered over the ridge of coral and down into the hollow. Then a larger cast arrived. A handful of the crustaceans passed close to the predators. The lizardfish did not lunge at them. They waited. The fish were still the color of sand and hard to see, still motionless and impossible to detect. They knew the tide was going out. More crabs would come.
The numbers of travelers continued to rise. When the hollow started to fill, the crabs finally noticed the lizardfish. As they did, the predators attacked.
The entire cast of blue crabs exploded in panic. Many of them ran in random directions. A few scrambled to the top of the rock shelf and escaped. Others gathered in a defensive structure, a ball of pincers facing all directions.
In the midst of the puffs of sand, the scuttling legs, the claws, and frenzied motion, the lizardfish each struck once. They plucked panicked stragglers as they ran by. Only a single lizardfish failed to find an easy target. That one tried to take her victim from the defensive ball of crabs. However, she found it too spiky.
"Run, little ones," she said. She feinted at the defenders.
Several crabs shuffled to avoid her but they did not leave the group. They did not waver as they kept their pincers raised high.
"Run!" shouted a crab at the top of the rock shelf, above. She waved to her recent mate. He gazed longingly at the ridge of the hollow and the safety there.
"Don't be foolish," said the crab next to him.
"But these lizardfish," he complained. "They will take one of us."
"Hold steady," the big crab insisted.
The lizardfish kept diving at them. Once, the biggest blue crab managed to snip an edge off a fin. However, after eight false strikes, one of the crabs broke position. He and ran for the west wall of slope. A second crab followed. But the lizardfish grabbed the second one. Like the rest of her school, she crunched the body of her prey with her mighty jaws and sharp, thick teeth.
"You see?" said the big crab to the one whose mate awaited them at the edge of the hollow. "When you panic, you make it easy for a predator. When you calm yourself and direct your actions with care, you make it harder. Now, finally, we may climb this rocky ridge together."
"Still together?" the smaller crab asked as he watch the lizardfish eat.
"It's a small thing," replied the other. "But yes. Not panicking and achieving something small is worthwhile. Your see? Come, do another small thing."
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