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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems
Published on: July 30, 2019
Space-irrelevant scaling law for fish school sizes
1Behavioral Ecology Section, National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering, Hasaki, Ibaraki 314-0421, Japan. hiro.s.niwa@fra.affrc.go.jp
Abstract:
Universal scaling in the power-law size distribution of pelagic fish schools is established. The power-law exponent of size distributions is extracted through the data collapse. The distribution depends on the school size only through the ratio of the size to the expected size of the schools an arbitrary individual engages in. This expected size is linear in the ratio of the spatial population density of fish to the breakup rate of school. By means of extensive numerical simulations, it is verified that the law is completely independent of the dimension of the space in which the fish move. Besides the scaling analysis on school size distributions, the integrity of schools over extended periods of time is discussed.
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