History Main / AlwaysaBiggerFish

* [[http://www.bdselection.com/imagesbd/q/quiestlechef/quiestlechef_1.jpg This]] strip by Argentinian cartoonist ''{{Quino}}'' (the test translates as "Death to the big guy"). Also [[http://www.irancartoon.com/100/comicstrip/Qino.gif this one]].

* In RudyardKipling's "The Butterfly That Stamped" in his ''Just So Stories'', the following paragraph tells of King Solomon:

Named for the sequence in ''[[StarWars The Phantom Menace]]''.

* In ''{{Monster}}'', Nina is saved from Professor Geidlitz by [[CompleteMonster Johan]].

*** [[spoiler:To all tropers: [[DidNotDoTheResearch Spinosaurs ate fish]], [[DarthWiki/WallBanger and lived near rivers, of course]]. ''And'' their jaws were SMALLER than T-Rex's, despite their bodies being larger, so...]]

*** [[spoiler:To all tropers: [[DidNotDoTheResearch Spinosaurs ate fish]], [[WallBanger and lived near rivers, of course]]. ''And'' their jaws were SMALLER than T-Rex's, despite their bodies being larger, so...]]

** Played straighter 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 ''[[{{Ptitleywhkx5nh}} 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 [[EverthingsEvenWorseWithSharks great white shark approaching]]...

* In ''[[{{Ptitleywhkx5nh}} 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 [[EverthingsWorseWithSharks great white shark approaching]]...

* Speaking of YouShallNotPass, in ''[[LordOfTheRings 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. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balrog Guess who]] had woken up and was ''really'' hungry?

* In ''WatershipDown'', 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.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/summon_bigger_fish_3728.jpg
[[caption-width:330:A giant bone monster is fine too.]]

Compare to SaveTheVillain, DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu, ExitPursuedByABear, and {{Self-Disposing Villain}}. If it's a videogame, and you have to also fight the bigger fish, it's a BaitAndSwitchBoss.

-->'''Aussie:''' No. No crocodiles, mate.
-->'''American:''' (Dives in)
-->'''Aussie:''' [[EverythingIsEvenWorseWithSharks Sharks ate 'em.]]

* In an early sunday strip of ''CalvinAndHobbes'', 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 ShermansLagoon 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."

[[folder:Films]]

* Speaking of YouShallNotPass, in the ''[[LordOfTheRings 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. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balrog Guess who]] had woken up and was ''really'' hungry?

* In the Brendan Frasier version of ''JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'', the heroes are saved from vicious coelacanth-type fish by plesiosaur-type sea monsters.

* Literally subverted in ''The Colour Of Magic'', where a sinking pirate ship is devoured by a sea monster the size of a village ... which shortly washes up dead on an island, as the ''smaller'' fish it swallowed along with the ship just happened to be the Luggage. Which kicked it to death from the inside.

-->So nat'ralists observe, a flea
-->Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,
-->And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,
-->And so proceed ''ad infinitum''.

* In ''WatershipDown'', 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 NeverFoundTheBody.

* In Book Three of ''PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', a quad of undead warriors who had been attacking the heroes was chased off by the Erymanthian Boar.

* In the 11th book of ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', the Baudelaire orphans are in a submarine which is [[spoiler:being attacked by the main villain]]. However, when a mysterious question mark appears on the radar, everyone is scared, including [[spoiler:the attackers]]. To make matters worse/better, the author never says just what the question mark was.

* In ''HarryPotter 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 RobertEHoward's "The Scarlet Citadel", {{Conan}}, as DistressedDude, 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.)

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* At least once per season, ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'' featured a scene in which some minor vampiric menace (who is convinced he's the MonsterOfTheWeek, or even BigBad) shows up to kill Buffy just in time to get eaten by the true MonsterOfTheWeek.
* One of the animation segues in an episode of ''[[MontyPython Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' had a section involving people being squashed on the streets by "killer cars," which were destroyed by [[MegaNeko a gigantic building-swallowing Siamese Cat]], which was then killed by a several-hundred-foot-tall disembodied hand... and then it transitions into something [[strike: else]] completely different.
* BoredToDeath: Our protagonist is saved from a scary murderous thug by driving into the back of a police car. While high.
* The {{MST3k}} episode {{King Dinosaur}} features two astronauts trapped in a cave by a Tyrannosaurus Rex that is actually an iguana. The arrival of a baby alligator with a fin glued on its back, and the ensuing 'dinosaur' battle, allows them to make their getaway.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* 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.
* The food chain (or more accurately, the food web).
** However, fictional depictions often [[YouFailBiologyForever 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.
** Tell that to the lions, wolves and orcas.
*** Hunting in packs would be the exception the proves the rule. And don't orcas mostly eat seals, sea lions, penguins and other things that are decidedly smaller than them?
* 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.
** Um...What could have done that?
*** Another Great White, a Saltwater Crocodile, or an Orca.
** Point of order: [[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-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 to comes to such hot topics as Taiwan.
** War between Canada, the United States, and Mexico was once a likely scenario and even 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 Canada and Mexico, but that's still five times more than goes to China.
[[/folder]]

* This trope is the major point in one of PopCapGames, 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.
* No matter what fish you are in ''OdellDownUnder'', there is always something that can eat you. Even the largest fish, the great white shark, can still be eaten...by another great white shark.
* In ''GodOfWar: Chains of Olympus", Kratos fights a Cyclops, which is then eaten by a basilisk

* The TropeNamer was parodied in ''DarthsAndDroids'', where the event [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0033.html convinces Qui Gon that he can cast]] SummonBiggerFish. 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.

* In the fourth episode of ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', 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.

* Humorously meddled with in ''The {{SpongeBob SquarePants}} Movie'' when Dennis the Bounty Hunter finally catches up to [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. [[spoiler:Dennis goes to step on [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, only to be stomped on by the Cyclops.]] Patrick even yells out "Bigger Boot!"
** Played straighter 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.
* [[InvaderZim "I'm not here because I like you, Dib! I just here for your big gargantuan head!"]]
* In several classic WarnerBrothers & 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, [[RuleOfThree then a punch line to the bit]].

* In the ''FamilyGuy'' 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 ([[DontExplainTheJoke '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 ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' where the zombies attack, Billy is attacked by a rope of zombie sausages, which were then eaten by a zombie dog.

<<|ActionAdventureTropes|>>

* In Rudyard Kipling's "The Butterfly That Stamped" in his ''Just So Stories'', the following paragraph tells of King Solomon:

* In 2009 off the eastern seaboard of Australia, a dead 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.

[[caption-width:330:A giant bone monster is good too.]]

[[caption-width:330:Or a giant bone monster is good too.]]

* The TropeNamer was parodied in ''DarthsAndDroids'', where the event convinces Qui Gon that he can cast [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0033.html "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.

* In an early sunday strip of ''CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin shrinks down to the size of a flea. He is chased around by a cockroach, only for the roach to be eaten by a toad

** In ''JurassicPark 3'', the heroes run from a ''T. rex'' straight into the hunting grounds of a ''Spinosaurus'' (a larger, deadlier dinosaur than the ''T. rex''). The spinosaur [[spoiler:"rescues" the heroes by killing the ''T. rex'']], but later chases them on its own.