How does a pike hover dead-still, then explode?

The swim bladder does the hovering; the body plan does the exploding. Trimmed to neutral buoyancy, a pike can hang motionless in the weeds spending almost nothing — no fin sculling to give it away, no wasted calories. Meanwhile the dorsal and anal fins are set far back near the tail, turning the whole rear half of the fish into one oversized propulsion paddle for a standing-start launch. It is the ideal ambush combination: a hunting style that costs nearly zero between meals and delivers maximum acceleration at the moment of truth.

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