Abstract

Many marine fishes exhibit life history strategies which include a pelagic larval phase. Oceanic conditions during this period affect the growth, survival, and dispersal of larvae thus influencing recruitment rates and subsequent adult population dynamics (Pineda et al. 2007). While it remains difficult to separate the effects of pre-settlement and post-settlement processes on recruitment, incorporating both types of variability into juvenile recruitment models has been shown to improve resulting indices (Miller et al. 2009). In the Florida Keys, larval retention, dispersal, and transport to nearshore settlement habitats are thought to be mediated by the offshore position of the Florida Current as well as the propagation of meso-scale and sub-mesoscale eddies (Lee et al. 1994, Lee and Williams 1999, Sponaugle et al. 2005). Meanwhile, biophysical interactions related to oceanic temperature and salinity gradients can moderate rates of larval growth and survival (D’Alessandro et al. 2013). The motivation of this work was to refine recruitment indices for fishery-important species in the Middle Florida Keys by isolating and assessing the effects of oceanic salinity, temperature, current speed, and current direction on post-settlement abundances.

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