Abstract

The Loop Current (LC) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is part of the North Atlantic western boundary current. With speeds in excess of 2 m/s, the LC intrudes northward into the GOM basin carrying warm, salty, oligitrophic Atlantic and Caribbean Water. Spin-off eddies and entrainment of LC water into the deep GOM basin provides a natural vector for Atlantic and Caribbean species to enter the Gulf by transport of larvae, juveniles or adults. Previous studies have linked the year 2000 invasion of jellyfish, Phyllorhiza punctata, in the Mississippi Bight to transport by the LC. In this study we examine potential routes between the LC and the continental shelves of the northern GOM. Satellite tracked drifters pathways are examined to determine routes from the Caribbean through the Yucatan Straits into the GOM. Drifters and model results are further examined for potential routes between the LC and the northern GOM shelves. We found that this vector for non-endemic species is possible, but not as common as might be expected.

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