Routes and rates of larval fish transport from the southeast to the northeast United States continental shelf

Abstract

Larval fish originating south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, are frequently found on the continental shelf north of Cape Hatteras, even as far north as the Scotian shelf. The Gulf Stream and associated warm-core rings are hypothesized as the physical mechanisms responsible for the northward transport of larvae. Specifically, larvae spawned along the southeast U.S. continental shelf are entrained into the Gulf Stream, transported to the northeast, regularly incorporated in warm-core ring streamers, transported across the slope region, and released along the shelf edge north of Cape Hatteras. This proposed transport route was evaluated using hydrographic data and drifter tracks that were collected as part of other studies. Continental shelf water that originated south of Cape Hatteras was found AcknowledgmentsPatricia Tester, Cecily Natunewicz, and David Chapman provided critical reviews of earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Fisheries oceanography and the ecology of early life histories of fishes: a perspective over fifty years

“…Quite simply the advective transport of fish eggs and larvae influences abundance and distribution and provides the mechanism that drives population retention or dispersal of fish eggs and larvae (e.g. Boehlert and Mundy 1994;Hare et al, 2002). Advection also influences the structure of communities, or more properly assemblages (e.g.…”

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“…Govoni and Merriner (1978) noted that Elops species are not known to spawn north of the Carolinas, and they proposed that the Gulf Stream System coupled with either Ekman transport or Gulf Stream eddies dispersed these larvae westward into the Chesapeake Bight. Recent studies by Hare et al (2002) and Epifanio and Garvine (2001) review the evidence for dispersal of pelagic larvae via these crossshelf transport mechanisms. In particular, Hare et al (2002) include data for a holey-sock drogue that was released off of the Florida Keys and was transported for a few months northward, eventually becoming entrained in a warm core ring near the edge of the northeast U.S. continental shelf.…”

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