Estuaries and Coasts

, Volume 39, Issue 1, pp 201–217 | Cite as

The Distribution of Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) Megalopae at the Mouths of Chesapeake and Delaware Bays: Implications for Larval Ingress

  • Jeffery L. Biermann
  • Elizabeth W. North
  • William C. Boicourt
Article
First Online:
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Abstract

Transport of Callinectes sapidus (blue crab) megalopae from the continental shelf into estuaries may influence recruitment variability of this species. Observations of the vertical distribution of C. sapidus megalopae near the mouths of Chesapeake and Delaware Bays were used to infer vertical swimming behaviors that may influence ingress to these estuaries. Megalopae and oceanographic conditions were sampled at locations from ~10 km inshore of the estuary mouths to ~40 km offshore in coastal shelf waters on September 7–13, 2005 and September 3–7, 2006. Megalopae were present in greater abundance and at shallower depths during night compared to day at all locations in Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, suggesting that megalopae make diel vertical migrations within the estuary and on the continental shelf near the estuarine mouths. Within the mouth of the estuaries, only limited evidence suggests that megalopae increase in abundance in the upper water column during nocturnal flood tides in Delaware Bay. These findings suggest that wind forcing and density-induced subtidal flows are more likely mechanisms for ingress to Chesapeake and Delaware Bays than tidal transport.

Keywords

Callinectes sapidus Megalopae Larval transport Blue crab Vertical migration 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Charles Epifanio, Michael Roman, Ana Dittel, David Kimmel, and Jamie Pierson for their advice and guidance and Arnoldo-Valle Levinson and Richard Garvine for providing and processing data. We appreciate the assistance of Carole Derry, Krista Hozyash, Ginger Jahn, Dave Martel, Felipe Pimenta, J.T. Reager, Zack Schlag, Jack Seabrease, Margaret Sexton, and Thomas Wazniak for help in the laboratory, in the field, and with analysis. We also are grateful for the hard work and dedication of the captains and crews of the RV Cape Henlopen and the RV Hugh R. Sharp. This research was funded by the Maryland Sea Grant College Program (NOAA NA05OAR4171042), the National Science Foundation (OCE-0424932), and graduate fellowships to JB from Maryland Sea Grant and UMCES Horn Point Laboratory. This is UMCES-HPL contribution number 5029.

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Copyright information

© Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jeffery L. Biermann
    • 1
  • Elizabeth W. North
    • 1
  • William C. Boicourt
    • 1
  1. 1.University of Maryland Center of Environmental Science, Horn Point LaboratoryCambridgeUSA

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