The resonating group model is reformulated by splitting the microscopic interaction into a dominant part and a residual part. In the equal-width oscillator limit, the dominant part leads to a very simple exchange kernel. In norm kernel eigenstate representation, this kernel has a peculiar, fish bone like symmetry. For the evaluation of the residual interaction, only two-body matrix elements are needed. A physical interpretation of the fish bone symmetry is given in terms of the reflection property of a fermi sphere with a diffuse surface. An optical model is proposed in which the influence of partly Pauliforbidden states on the observables is described by the fish bone symmetry of the interaction. It is speculated that fish bone symmetry might be the key to a better understanding of hadronic interactions.Nuclear Reactions: Scattering theory, nuclear models, optical models, composite particle interaction, symmetry of interactions.