Always a Bigger Fish: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:summon_bigger_fish_3728summon bigger fish 3728.jpg|link=True Magic|frame| Oh crap!]]
 
 
{{quote|''(The heroes' submarine is grabbed by a huge Opee Sea Killer)''
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|''[[Star Wars]] Episode I: [[The Phantom Menace]]''}}
 
The more primal equivalent of [[Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work]]. Alternately, [[Always Someone Better]], applied to the bad guys.
 
Our heroes are cornered or trapped by one scary thing or group, only to be [[Fighting for Survival|saved by the other, bigger, scarier thing or group]]. Sometimes the "savior" has been introduced earlier in the plot, making this an instance of [[Chekhov's Gun]].
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Common form of [[Deus Ex Machina]]. See also [[Colliding Criminal Conspiracies]] when the "Bigger Fish" arrives early and threatens heroes and villains equally.
 
In [[Real Life]], this sort of animal is called an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_predator apex predator] or top predator. Compare to [[Save the Villain]], [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]], [[Exit, Pursued by a Bear]], [[Self-Disposing Villain]], and [[Eviler Than Thou]]. If it's a videogame, and you have to also fight the bigger fish, it's a [[Bait and Switch Boss]]. For actual bigger fish (and other things) see [[Sea Monster]].
{{examples}}
 
Supertrope to [[Food Chain of Evil]].
== Advertising ==
 
{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* There is an Australian advertisement where an American tourist asks locals if there are any crocodiles in the water.
{{quote|'''Aussie:''' No. No crocodiles, mate.
'''American:''' ''(dives in)''
'''Aussie:''' [[Everything Is's Even Worse Withwith Sharks|Sharks ate 'em.]] }}
 
 
== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'', Nina is saved from Professor Geidlitz by [[Complete Monster|Johan]].
** What makes this better is that they were using her as bait to lure Johan in to convince him to lead their group and make "the master race" dominant once again, seeing him as the next Hitler. Anna tried to warn them that Johan didn't care about their cause or any cause. [[Evil Is Not a Toy|They discover too late that she's correct.]]
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* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'': Frieza and his even stronger father are coming. This could mean the end of all life on Earth. As soon as they arrive, a person we've never seen before shows up and cuts them both in half with a sword.
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
 
== Comics ==
* The climax of ''[[Bone]]'' is an interesting double-helping of this trope: {{spoiler|the [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragon]]-[[Physical God|goddess]] Mim's roaring rampage is set to wipe most of the heroes (most of the planet) off the map. Meanwhile, Thorn and Fone Bone are being pursued by the rest of the dragons, in a blind rage. The dragons pursue Thorn and Fone to the surface, at which point they see Mim, and they break off their pursuit to go [[Cooldown Hug|calm their queen down]]}}.
* Occurs in ''[[Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja|Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja]]'' when [[Reality Warper]] Alfie O'Meagan is waiting for a cosmic being called M'Gubgub. He barely avoids being stepped on by a massive alien who dwarfs the planet and proceeds to praise M'Gubgub... only for the alien to run away in a panic, as the ''galaxy-dwarfing'' M'Gubgub arrives.
* In an early sunday strip of ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', Calvin shrinks down suddenly to the size of a bug from the perspective of other bugs. A fly tries to step on him until a frog eats it.
* One ''[[Sherman's Lagoon]]'' comic has a progression of Bigger Fish eating each other. When Sherman, a Great White Shark, shows up to eat the third, another fish protests, "You're going out of turn. I eat that guy, then you eat me."
* Occurs in ''[[Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja|Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja]]'' when [[Reality Warper]] Alfie O'Meagan is waiting for a cosmic being called M'Gubgub. He barely avoids being stepped on by a massive alien who dwarfs the planet and proceeds to praise M'Gubgub... only for the alien to run away in a panic, as the ''galaxy-dwarfing'' M'Gubgub arrives.
* [http://www.bdselection.com/imagesbd/q/quiestlechef/quiestlechef_1.jpg This] strip by Argentinian cartoonist ''[[Quino]]'' (the text translates as "Death to the big guy"). Also [http://www.irancartoon.com/100/comicstrip/Qino.gif this one].
** [http://www.bonsaisgigantes.net/zen/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/quino-actitud-poder.jpg And here's an inversion].
 
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* A repeated theme in the ''[[Worm]]/[[Luna Varga]]'' crossover ''[[Taylor Varga]]'':
** The "sisters" of the Family are a series of increasingly bigger fish provided by Taylor using increasingly larger forms and slightly less restraint.
** Lung learns that he is ''not'' the biggest, baddest reptile on the East Coast when Kaiju reveals that she is ''so'' big and powerful that she can hold a raging Lung in her fist and not feel the slightest need to ''fight'' him.
** Understanding this trope implicitly, Kaiser makes very sure the E88 does not attract the attention of the Family, especially after Kaiju's debut.
* In the ''[[Ranma ½]]'' [[Alternate Universe Fic]] ''[[Desperately Seeking Ranma]]'', this is the lesson learned by Robert Davenport, one-time British Minister for Magic, who believes being a mage makes him naturally superior to people without magic, upon encountering Chou and Yori -- who are so powerful that he looks powerless next to them.
 
== Films -- Animation[[Film]] ==
* Humorously meddled with in ''The [[SpongeBob SquarePants]] Movie'' when Dennis the Bounty Hunter finally catches up to SpongeBob and Patrick. {{spoiler|1=Dennis goes to step on SpongeBob and Patrick, only to be stomped on by the Cyclops.}} Patrick even yells out "Bigger Boot!"
** Played less straight earlier in the film when the anglerfish that ate their car is itself eaten by an ''enormous'' deep-sea eel. SpongeBob and Patrick's shocked expressions are priceless.
* In ''[[Help! I'm a Fish]]'', the main characters are collecting ingredients to make a potion to turn them back into humans, but run into trouble getting an octopus to squirt ink, as it is much bigger than they are and thus just grabs them. It does eventually squirt ink and swim away, which Fly attributes to their screaming scaring it off, but was really because of the [[Everything Is's Even Worse Withwith Sharks|great white shark approaching]]...
* In the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of ''[[Fun and Fancy Free]]'', when [[Mickey Mouse]], [[Donald Duck]], and [[Goofy]] arrive at Willie the Giant's castle after their house is carried upwards by a beanstalk, a giant dragonfly swoops down and tries to attack the three, but a giant catfish living in Willie's moat jumps up and eats the dragonfly.
* In ''[[The Sword in the Stone]]'', when Goldfish Arthur "Wart" Pendragon is chased by a pike living in the moat he is suddenly lifted out of the water by [[The Owl-Knowing One|Archimedes]], who thinks that Wart is his dinner. Before Archimedes captures Wart he scares off the pike.
 
 
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[Star Wars|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace]]'', as Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Jar Jar travel in a sub through the watery core of Naboo, this happens twice in a row for a total of ''4'' progressively bigger fish. (Although the 2nd and 4th monsters are [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sando_aqua_monster the same individual].) [[Riff Trax]] parodies this line, noting that for it to be true, a fish that could swallow the cosmos would need to exist. And an even bigger one to swallow that fish too, and so on, ''ad infinitum''.
* The heroes of ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' are about to get eaten by velociraptors, but the ''T. rex'' shows up to save the day.
** In ''[[Jurassic Park]] 3'', the heroes run from a ''Spinosaurus'' straight into the hunting grounds of a ''T.Rex''. The spinosaur {{spoiler|"rescues" the heroes by killing the ''T. rex''}}, but later begins chasing them again.
* Speaking of [[You Shall Not Pass]], in ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', the eponymous gang of nine are in the deeps of Moria surrounded by countless goblins... until the goblins themselves start running for their very lives. Guess who had woken up and was ''really'' mad?
* The [[Star Trek (film)|2009]] ''[[Star Trek]]'' reboot has this happen when Kirk is abandoned on an ice planet. He gets chased by some sort of space-polar-bear. After a while another massive creature smashes through the ice and eats it. [[Super-Persistent Predator|Then promptly throws the large slab of meat it just caught to chase down Kirk.]]
* In Peter Jackson's ''[[King Kong]]'', the heroine hides from a huge carnivorous lizard in a hollow log, and it tears at the wood to try to get her. Suddenly it stops, and she seems safe... until ''half'' the same lizard is seen dangling from the jaws of a ginormous ''V. rex'', which just bit it in two.
** Kong himself is a near constant example of this trope in the first half of the movie, as he repeatedly kills a number of animals that are trying to eat Anne Darrow.
* In the first ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'' movie, a [[Predator]] attacks Alexa, but is killed by an [[Alien (franchise)|Alien]].
* In the Brendan Frasier version of ''[[Journey to Thethe Center of Thethe Earth]]'', the heroes are saved from vicious coelacanth-type fish by plesiosaur-type sea monsters.
* In ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'', Jake faces down a huge, charging rhino-like titanothere. When it stops and retreats, he thinks he's won, only to have to run from what really scared it off: the bigger and nastier-looking carnivorous thanator that was creeping up behind him.
* Averted in the film ''GMK''. Actually Baragon is never attacked by the JDSF, as the Cabinet never actually takes action. In this instance Godzilla is still the Bigger Fish. Baragon goes straight to battle with him. Baragon is the hero, but nowhere near being the bigger fish.
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* In the beginning of ''[[Sharktopus]]'', a beach girl is attacked by a shark while swimming off the shoreline, but the Sharktopus saves her by devouring it.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
 
== Literature ==
* [[Inverted Trope|Flipped on its head]] in ''On Poetry'' by [[Jonathan Swift]]:
{{quote|''So nat'ralists observe, a flea''
{{quote|
And these have''Hath smaller fleas that biteon 'emhim prey,''
So nat'ralists observe, a flea
Hath''And these have smaller fleas that on himbite prey'em,''
''And so proceed '''ad infinitum''':''
And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,
''Thus ev'ry Poet in his Kind,''
And so proceed ''ad infinitum'':
''Is bit by him that comes behind.''}}
Thus ev'ry Poet in his Kind,
Is bit by him that comes behind.
}}
* In ''[[Watership Down]]'', after Hazel and Co. are attacked by General Woundwort, a massive dog is led into General Woundwort's forces, who naturally run. General Woundwort himself stays to beat up the dog. It’s worth noting that most of the characters are non-anthropomorphic rabbits, with the exception of Kehaar the seagull.
** It's also worth mentioning that they [[Never Found the Body]].
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{{quote|Once he tried to feed all the animals in all the world in one day, but when the food was ready an Animal came out of the deep sea and ate it up in three mouthfuls. Suleiman-bin-Daoud was very surprised and said, "O Animal, who are you?" And the Animal said, "O King, live for ever! I am the smallest of thirty thousand brothers, and our home is at the bottom of the sea. We heard that you were going to feed all the animals in all the world, and my brothers sent me to ask when dinner would be ready."}}
* The Empire plays this role at the end of ''Shadows of the Empire'', just as it looks like the rebels are about to be obliterated by Xizor's forces.
* In ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and Thethe Order of Thethe Phoenix (novel)|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'', Harry and Hermione are surrounded by an angry mob of centaurs. Just as the situation is looking rather grim, a giant shows up, scattering the herd and chasing them into the forest. Hermione, characteristically, is worried about the centaurs....
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[The Scarlet Citadel]]'', [[Conan the Barbarian]], as [[Dude in Distress]], is menaced by a snake, which is scared away by a man coming to kill Conan for killing his brother. The snake eats that man. (The keys that he taunted Conan with land at Conan's feet.)
* In Peter Benchley's "Beast", the tititular giant squid is moments from finishing the remaining characters when it is attacked, killed, and presumably eaten by an equally massive sperm whale.
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* ''The Featherbedders'' by Frank Herbert is about shapeshifting aliens who infiltrate and subvert other civilized species, having a trouble on Earth. Let's just say one of them gets to quote Swift (above).
 
== Films -- [[Live-Action TV]] ==
 
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Lost]]'' season 4 is all over this trope. One group of Losties hides from the freighties in the Others' Barracks. Later, a group cornered in a house are able to leave because the smoke monster (the series' original antagonist) attacks the bad guys. In the finale, when the Others showed up, fans at [[Television Without Pity|TWoP]] commented that they felt like the cavalry had arrived, quite a sharp contrast to the Others' first appearance in "Exodus Part 2".
* ''[[Primeval]]'' Episode 6 features a scene in which Nick is rescued from a Future Predator when said predator is attacked by a ''Gorgonopsid''.
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* In "The Little People," an episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'', a spaceman discovers a race of ant-size people and uses his size to [[A God Am I|proclaim himself their god]]...until two spacemen who are giants even to ''him'' show up.
* This occurs several times in ''[[Walking with Dinosaurs]]''
* The Borg were, for a long time, one of the most feared and dreaded races in the universe. However, the Borg's first encounter with Species 8472 (as the Borg called them) proved this Trope in spades, as their ship annihilated ''two'' Borg cubes effortlessly before they could even finish their well-known [[Catch Phrase| "resistance is futile" routine.]]
** Species 8472 is technically more like a [[Man of Kryptonite|Species of Kryptonite]], as being natives of [[Eldritch Location|Fluid Space]] with [[Organic Technology]], they are impervious to the Borg's technology; neither they nor their ships and devices could ever be assimilated, as they are simply not compatible.
 
== [[Music]] ==
* ''"I know an old lady who swallowed a fly''"... and an increasing sequence of critters each swallowed to catch the previous one.
 
== Music[[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* In an early sundaySunday strip of ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', Calvin shrinks down suddenly to the size of a bug from the perspective of other bugs. A fly tries to step on him until a frog eats it.
* ''I know an old lady who swallowed a fly''... and an increasing sequence of critters each swallowed to catch the previous one.
* One ''[[Sherman's Lagoon]]'' comic has a progression of Bigger Fish eating each other. When Sherman, a Great White Shark, shows up to eat the third, another fish protests, "You're going out of turn. I eat that guy, then you eat me."
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051125013038/http://www.bdselection.com/imagesbd/q/quiestlechef/quiestlechef_1.jpg This] strip by Argentinian cartoonist ''[[Quino]]'' (the text translates as "Death to the big guy"). Also [http://www.irancartoon.com/100/comicstrip/Qino.gif this one]{{Dead link}}.
** [http://www.bonsaisgigantes.net/zen/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/quino-actitud-poder.jpg And here's an inversion].
 
== Video[[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' have this as one of main unwritten laws. The only one who wasn't subjected to the [[Worf Effect]] is The Simbul, though even she was either fought to exhaustion or swamped in other problems (and her mom, being a goddess, pulled her leash at least on the issue of how much rampaging through Thay with bloodhot eyes is acceptable).
 
== Tabletop[[Video RPGGames]] ==
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' have this as one of main unwritten laws. The only one who wasn't subjected to the [[Worf Effect]] is The Simbul, though even she was either fought to exhaustion or swamped in other problems.
 
 
== Video Games ==
* There are numerous places in the ''[[Half-Life]]'' series where - while Gordon Freeman [[One-Man Army|doesn't exactly ''need'' the help]] - members of different factions fight and kill each other, effectively clearing Freeman's path (Marines and Xen aliens in ''Half-Life'', Combine, Antlions and Headcrab Zombies in ''Half-Life 2'' and its Episodes). Closer to the trope, this leads to at least two instances where a rampaging Antlion Guard slaughters a squad of Combine soldiers.
* This trope is the major point in one of [[Pop Cap Games]], ''Feeding Frenzy''. Eat small fish, become large fish, and avoid the even larger fish while doing that. Most levels have non-edible fish (which means, they eat you), or something else capable of killing you (mines or birds, or both!) but in several level you get to be top dog of the seas.
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* In ''[[Adventure Quest]]'' when you do the "Big Trouble in Little Granemor" quest you're attacked by a Giant Hungry Zombie after fighting off some vampires. The zombie makes about one attack before a [[Body Horror|Ribber]] randomly comes up and drags it away (with its mouth).
* ''[[Spore]]'' features this trope quite prominently, particularly in the Cell Stage. If you happen to be in the middle of being attacked by a large organism, once in a while a larger creature comes along and scares off or eats your attacker.
* In ''[[RunescapeRuneScape]]'''s "Ritual of the Mahjarrat" quest, {{spoiler|Lucien}} is killed by {{spoiler|[[MacGuffin Guardian|the dragonkin]]}}.
* You barely avoid a beheading in the opener of [[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]], thanks to a dragon rampage.
** It can happen in-game, too: dragons can randomly attack while the player is fighting off weaker enemies.
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* ''[[Musashi: Samurai Legend]]'' had a literal example with the Crimson Gorger. After the fight, it's about to eat Musashi, it then gets eaten by the ''Great'' Crimson Gorger, who then proceeds to continue the chase and therefore the boss fight.
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
 
== Web Original ==
* In the ''[[Kate Modern]]'' episode "Answers", Michelle Clore orders her Shadow to carry off Lauren. As he is doing so, {{spoiler|Terrence}} arrives and beats the Shadow in the face repeatedly with a golf club, apparently just for the hell of it. Lauren escapes.
** In "Love on the 436", {{spoiler|Terrence}} advances on the K-Team, only to get beaten up by the Shadow.
* ''Outfished'' [https://www.behance.net/gallery/797848/Glennz-Tees-Designs-2010-11] by Glennz (Glenn Jones), for angler fish.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
 
== Web Comics ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] was parodied in ''[[Darths and Droids]]'', where the event [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0033.html convinces Qui Gon that he can cast] [[Summon Bigger Fish]]. It becomes a running gag that Qui Gon thinks about casting it numerous times, never actually getting outright overruled due to circumstances steering the decision away from that.
** Well, there was as [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0208.html alternate version]...
* In [http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=030525 this] ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' strip, the Godhounds attacking the house get taken out in one panel by the Mind Wedgier, a soul-eating [[Eldritch Abomination]].
** In a much earlier and more humorous example, Torg is about to be kissed by the ugliest woman in the world, but she is suddenly eaten by the alien that followed him from another dimension. She (the alien this time) seems about to eat him too, but he's still relieved.
* Orbital beam weaponry in ''[[Adventurers!]]''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100626131211/http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20050709.html Oh, yes.]
* In the webcomic ''Evon'', the title character is [http://evoncomics.com/?p=1221 about to be raped] by Legune, the mad scientist holding her prisoner, when he's chased off by his patron, the mage, Maximus. But Maximus only stopped him to keep him from messing up his own plans of [[Stalker with a Test Tube|using Evon to breed a race of super mages]]. And he planned on starting right then and there... when [http://evoncomics.com/?p=1235 HE is stopped] by his [[Omnicient Council Of Vagueness|Cabal]] superior, Ferneris, who is rather ticked off that Maximus disobeyed his orders to bring Evon to the Cabal. [http://evoncomics.com/?p=1237 Violence ensues.]
* Inverted in [http://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2011/11/20 this] ''[[Cul De Sac]]'' strip.
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* Shmorky [http://www.shmorky.com/d/20040316.html did it] to [[Pac-Man]]. {{spoiler|In a ''looped'' animation.}}
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
 
== Western Animation ==
* In the fourth episode of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Aang stops at Kyoshi Island to ride the elephant koi, koi-like fish at least 15 metres long. Later, we meet the Unagi, the sea serpent that eats them.
** In the first episode of the third season, a giant serpent attacks the ship of the group, and then goes after the enemy ship that was attacking them, after a [[Tempting Fate]] phrase by Sokka.
* In several classic [[Warner BrothersBros.]] & MGM cartoons, one throwaway gag would be for a fish to eat something, then a bigger fish would eat that fish, then a bigger fish would eat ''that'' fish, [[Rule of Three|then a punch line to the bit]].
** Parodied in one episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', where the 3-eyed fish is eaten by a 6-eyed fish, which is then eaten by a 9-eyed fish. Which is then eaten by a swimming Homer.
* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Lois Kills Stewie", Lois describes via flashback that she took a job at a fat camp. At one point she has to take one of the campers out of another camper's mouth ([[Don't Explain the Joke|'cause he's fat see, so he'd want to eat whatever he could]]), and then she has to pull another camper out of the mouth of the camper she'd just rescued.
* In the episode of ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and& Mandy]]'' where the zombies attack, Billy is attacked by a rope of zombie sausages, which were then eaten by a zombie dog.
* There's always the classic gag from [[Looney Tunes]], in which Granny picks up the dog and hits it until it spits out Sylvester, only to then pick up Sylvester and hit him until he spits out Tweety.
* [[Wild Kratts]]: This happens no fewer than ''two'' times in quick succession in an almost Xanatos-like way. A giant squid and a mama sperm whale are battling it out over the baby sperm whale, when a net comes out of nowhere and takes Mama out of the fight. So Big Daddy Sperm Whale shows up and promptly makes calamari of the squid. Enter ''colossal squid''.
* Played with in an episode of [[Angry Beavers]] where Norbert is admiring a rare fish in the river where their dam is. The fish is promptly eaten by a larger fish, which is eaten by another. This continues until the largest fish is eaten by a fish that was even smaller than the first one. Then that one is eaten by a orca whale.
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
 
* Invoking this trope is one of the most favourite attacks against "First Cause" arguments:<br /><small>'''Atheist, Agnostic or similar Skeptic''': If God created us then who created God? And why does it have to be just God?</small>
== Real Life ==
* Invoking this trope is one of the most favourite attacks against "First Cause" arguments:<br /><small>'''Atheist, Agnostic or similar Skeptic''': If God created us then who created God? And why does it have to be just God?</small>
* Subverted by Anselm's Ontological Argument, which is a logical attempt to prove the existence of [[God]]. Its main premise is that if God, ''i.e.'', an all-powerful being, did not exist at some point, then there would have to be a bigger "fish" to bring Him into existence, and then He would not be all-powerful, and therefore not God. According to Anselm, something which exists is 'greater' than something which doesn't exist. Since we can conceive of God existing and not existing, and the existing one is 'greater', then God must exist since he is the 'greatest' possible being we can conceive.
* The food chain (or more accurately, the food web).
** However, fictional depictions often [[You Fail Biology Forever|do it wrong]] by having the bigger fish be not ''that'' much bigger than the one it takes out. In real life, a predator will rarely attack another predator that's close to its own size. Because even if it's successful, the odds of getting injured are high, and animals in the wild don't exactly have medics on hand to treat their injuries. Thus, hunting something that can put up a credible fight is high risk for low reward.
*** Pack predators may bring down larger prey with some frequency. In addition, there are rarely more than two or three levels of predation before reaching an apex predator. Each time a thing is eaten (a change in trophic level), there is usually a loss of at least 90% of the caloric energy from one level to another. In the simple chain grass - herbivorous insect - small bird - falcon, there were probably 1,000 calories worth of grass for every 1 calorie of falcon at the end. Food webs rarely have long, long chains of predation.
* Humans are often regarded as the ultimate apex predator, although this is hotly debated among biologists.
* There is a [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071108-fossil-foodchain.html Permian fossil] of a shark that ate an amphibian that had eaten a fish.
* In 2009 off the eastern seaboard of Australia, a three metre (ten feet) great white shark was found entangled in shark nets. The nets hadn't killed the shark, in fact, the shark had been ''bitten clean in half by something twice as large''. Only in Australia, folks.
** If you're wondering what could have done that: Another Great White, a Saltwater Crocodile, or an Orca.
** Point of order: [https://web.archive.org/web/20091031101822/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/10/26/2009-10-26_10foot_great_white_shark_bitten_nearly_in_half_by_20foot_monster_shark_near_aust.html The shark] was still alive when it was hauled out of the water. Great whites are amazingly tough to survive a wound like that.
* Proponents of globalization and similar trends point to this as a way to ensure world peace. The bigger fish in this case is economics. If two or more countries are intimately tied together economically, then they can't attack each other because even the victor would be greatly damaged by the economic repercussions. This was one of the driving forces behind the founding of the European Union and is cited as a major (if not predominant) reason why war between China and the United States is almost impossible in the current economic climate -- whichclimate—which is one reason China is working hard to find other markets for its products so it has more options in its foreign policy, especially when it comes to such hot topics as Taiwan.
** Yes, because nations [[American Civil War|economically]], [[American Revolution|integrated]], [[World War I|with each other]] [[Sarcasm Mode|never go to war.]] There is no such thing as [[Honor Before Reason|reputation,]] [[Ambition Is Evil|lust for conquest,]] or [[Revenge Before Reason|resentment.]]
** War between Canada, the United States, and Mexico was once a likely scenario and became reality in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War of 1848. Nowadays, war between the three countries is almost unthinkable, mainly because large percentages of their imports and exports circulate among each other-in Canada and Mexico's cases, the overwhelming majority of exports go to the US. Only 21% of the US's exports go to Canada and Mexico, but that's still 5five times more than goes to China.
*** Not just imports and exports of finished products, either: in some businesses the manufacture of products depends on parts coming from the other country. The automobile industry is the best example, with an automobile assembly line in Michigan installing engines made in Ontario made from parts from Ohio (or the reverse).
* In the Florida Everglades, alligators have been the apex predator of the swamps. But now, reticulated pythons introduced by humans have invaded the swamps and have been found eating the alligators.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Bigger Is Better]]
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
[[Category:Index to The Rescue]]
[[Category:Always a Bigger Fish]]