Each barracuda is a boid steered every frame by three local rules averaged over nearby schoolmates within a fixed sensing radius: alignment (match the average heading and speed of neighbours), cohesion (steer toward the neighbourhood's average position) and separation (push away from anyone too close, weighted by inverse squared distance so near-collisions dominate). The Synchronization slider scales the alignment weight; the Prey density slider adds a steady forward-and-sideways drift current representing the channel's baitfish flow, which is also what advances the hunting-progress readout.
- Cohesion % — inverse of the school's average spread from its centroid; a tight ball of fish scores near 100, a scattered school scores low.
- Prey eaten — a barracuda "eats" a baitfish marker whenever it passes within its strike radius; markers respawn elsewhere in the channel.
- This is the same separation/alignment/cohesion flocking model that drives the 3D version's fish, redrawn top-down instead of orbited in 3D.