The Fish Hook Ant Wildly accepted adaptation: Fish hook ants have double fish hook protrusions that grow from their backs which are used as defensive mechanismstheyre sharp enough to serve as a powerful predator warning. The thorns are not only sharp enough to penetrate skin, they also hooked into a wound, latching the ant to whatever attacks it. Alternative adaptation: The fish hooks allow the ants to hook into each other to create massive clusters, which makes it nearly impossible for any predator to target an individual ant.