Crab Larval Abundance and Settlement Patterns in a Changing Chesapeake Bay

• Main Author: Sivaipram, Itchika
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: W&M ScholarWorks 2018
• Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries; Marine Biology; Oceanography; Lower Bay; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1550153654; https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6528&context=etd

All estuarine crabs have two larval stages, the zoea and the megalopa. Zoeae are entirely planktonic, whereas megalopae begin as plankton before beginning to search for settlement substrates as late stage megalopae. At both stages, crab larvae are subject to environmental conditions of the estuary....