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As sleek and zippy as a race car, the striped marlin has earned the right to be called the Ferrari of the ocean. These torpedo-shaped fish propel themselves with powerful tails and have been documented to exceed speeds of 30 kilometers per hour. No one has clocked their maximum speed in the wild, though—as far as we know, these fish could break the sound barrier.

The long, pointed spear at the tip of a marlin’s snout helps it cut through the water, but if two marlin were to collide, like cars crashing into one another on a freeway, the result could be deadly. Researchers from the Science of Intelligence Department at Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany wanted to know how striped marlin, which sometimes band together to herd schools of prey, successfully avoid ramming one another most of the time. The scientists used high-resolution drone footage to observe 24 striped marlin taking turns swiping at a school of sardines with their spears off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Next, the team devised a theory explaining how the fish brilliantly avoid impaling each other: stripes, they say, are key.

Video by SCIoI/Humboldt-Universität Berlin/Alicia Burns