The phrase "feeding
frenzy" comes from the behavior of
sharks and other
marine animals. When a group of sharks encounters a large number of
prey animals, such as a
school of
fish, the large amount of
blood or body fluids in the water and the jerky movements of the prey can confuse and incite the sharks into a frenzy where they are not too discriminatory about what they go for. The sharks circle the prey, make sudden lunges, thrash around and snap at every other object. This activity will attract more sharks and the frenzy gets bigger. "
Chum is flying long before I even get my mask and fins on. Water and shark fins are already boiling in front of the boat," Trisha Smith recalls on discovery.com.
Humans often incite these frenzies by dropping meat and blood into the water to study the sharks which have been attracted, but seeing this behavior in documentaries has probably contributed to sharks' bad repution as an attacker of humans.
This behavior is not limited to sharks; other fish do it also under the right circumstances, often even following hooked members of their own species as a possible meal.
And because of this behavior, the phrase "feeding frenzy" is often used metaphorically to describe frantic competition or exploitation of a situation, such as a "media feeding frenzy" over a news story.
Feeding Frenzy is also a 1990 Jimmy Buffett live album; the title probably is a reference to the Buffett song "Fins" which describes a women as "the only bait in town" for rapacious men. The album contains:
- You'll Never Work In Dis Bidness Again
- The City
- Last Mango In Paris
- Come Monday
- Today's Message (an amusing, if now dated, spoken word suggestion that we end the Cold War by dropping Victoria's Secret catalogs in Russia)
- A Love Song (From A Different Point Of View) -- (this is the song normally listed on his other albums as "Why Don't We Get Drunk (And Screw)")
- One Particular Harbour
- Honey Do
- Cheeseburger In Paradise
- A Pirate Looks At Forty
- Jolly Mon
- Gypsies In The Palace
- Fins
- Margaritaville
- Jamaica Farewell
- Volcano
Sources:
http://www.discovery.com/area/nature/sharks/dispatches/dis05.html
http://www.finefishing.com/1saltfish/alaska/sitkasilvers.htm
http://www.sharksteeth.com/AboutSharks.htm
http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=00563000&o=1
http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00307036
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Avxcm965o3ep7