Target Strength and swimbladder morphology of Mueller's pearlside (Maurolicus muelleri).

ABSTRACT: In the last few years, there has been increasing interest in the commercial exploitation of mesopelagic fish and a trawl-acoustic methodology has been recommended to make estimates of abundance of these resources. This study provides relevant information on the scattering properties of a key mesopelagic fish species in the Bay of Biscay, Mueller's pearlside (Maurolicus muelleri), necessary to convert the acoustic density into numerical abundance. The target strength (TS) of pearlside was estimated for the first time at five frequencies commonly used in acoustic surveys. A high-density filter was applied to reduce the bias derived from overlapping echoes erroneously assigned to single targets. Its relationship with fish length (b₂₀) was also determined (-65.9 ± 2, -69.2 ± 3, -69.

SUBMITTER: Sobradillo B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6872731 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature