A record of plankton on the echo-sounder

A number of records from echo-sounders have been loosely attributed to the presence of plankton. Only two records have been adequately identified as having been produced by plankton; first, the traces offish larvae, or shallow scattering layers (Burd & Lee, 1951); and secondly, the echo layer, at the depth of the temperature discontinuity or thermocline, which is sometimes associated with plankton animals or plants (Cushing, Lee & Richardson, in press). A third type of record, that from the ‘deep scattering layer', has been associated with the presence of euphausiids (Hersey & Moore, 1948; Moore, 1950; Boden, 1950): an equally plausible association with the presence of fish has been made by Marshall (1951), Tucker (1951) and Hersey & Backus (1954). A fourth type of echo record, a ‘noisy’ record, will be described and will show that it is probably attributable to plankton organisms, consisting, in one instance, of euphausiids.