Mesoscopic wave physics in fish shoals

Benoit Tallon (1) , Philippe Roux (1) , Guillaume Matte (2) , Jean Guillard (3) , Sergey E Skipetrov (4)

1 ISTerre - Institut des Sciences de la Terre
2 iXBLUE (Entreprise)
3 CARRTEL - Centre Alpin de Recherche sur les Réseaux Trophiques et Ecosystèmes Limniques
4 LPM2C - Laboratoire de physique et modélisation des milieux condensés

Ultrasound scattered by a dense shoal of fish undergoes mesoscopic interference, as is typical of low-temperature electrical transport in metals or light scattering in colloidal suspensions. Through large-scale measurements in open sea, we show a set of striking deviations from classical wave diffusion, making fish shoals good candidates to study mesoscopic wave phenomena. The very good agreement with theories enlightens the role of fish structure in such a strong scattering regime that features slow energy transport and brings acoustic waves close to the Anderson localization transition.

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Sciences de l'environnement

Benoit Tallon, Philippe Roux, Guillaume Matte, Jean Guillard, Sergey E Skipetrov. Mesoscopic wave physics in fish shoals. AIP Advances, 2020, 10 (5), pp.055208. ⟨10.1063/5.0005145⟩. ⟨hal-02592077⟩