Diurnal variation in acoustic densities: why do we se less in the dark?

Abstract

Introduction: In the Barents Sea, the echo abundance of demersal fish is about 50% higher at day than at night. Three possible reasons are: • Fish hide in the bottom dead zone at night. • Fish target strength changes due to pressure-related swim-bladder changes during vertical migration. • Fish target strength varies due to higher variation in the tilt-angle distribution at night. It is very often claimed that the dead zone is most important. We argue that variation in tilt-angle may also be important.