The speed of vertical migration and the volume backscattering strength of the scattering layers during the evening and morning transitions between day and night were measured in November 1990-1992 in thermally stratified waters of the East China Sea. Acoustical measurements were carried out using a scientific echo-sounder operating at t재 frequencies of 25 and 100kHz, and using an echo-integration system connected with a micro-computer. Biological sampling was accomplished by bottom trawling to identify fish species recorded on the echo sounder, and the species and length compositions were determined. The values of scattering strength were allocated to group of fishes according to the fish traces on the echo recording paper and the species composition of trawl catches. The vertical velocities of migration derived from the changes in the depths and the values of peak scattering strength of the dense layer vertically migrating toward the bottom or toward the surface. The trawl data suggest that snailfish and fishing frog were the most abundant fishes in all research stations. As sunrise approached, the fish formed a strong concentration just above the thermocline. The the highest values of scattering strength in the entire water column appeared in the depth strata above the thermocline just before the begining of downward migration. As soon as the fish began to migrate downwards across the thermocline, the values of the scattering strength in the depth strata above the thermocline rapidly decreased, while the values for the scattering layer moving slowly toward the bottom gradually increased. During the 1992 surveys, the speed of the vertical migration was estimated to be 0.38m/min in the upward migration and 0.32m/min in the downward migration, respectively. That is the rate of vertical migration was slightly higher at dusk than at dawn. Similar migration patterns were observed on different stations and under different weather conditions during the surveys in 1990.

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