Criales and Lee: Larval distribution and transport of penaeoid shrimps 



479 



ing to the first postlarval stage is approximately 30 

 days (Cook and Murphy, 1965). Local retention of 

 larvae at the spawning area followed by recruitment 

 into the coastal region may be the migration mecha- 

 nism for this coastal and short-lived species as well. 

 Early-stage zoeae of Solenocera sp. were widely 

 distributed offshore; two main peaks were located at 

 the Western and Tortugas transects at a depth of 

 about 35 m. The age of these zoeae was estimated to 

 be 3 to 5 days in accordance with Heldt's description 



( 1938) of the larval development of S. membranacea. 

 These data indicate that this species may have 

 spawned somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico in a loca- 

 tion corresponding to the outer edge of the Tortugas 

 Gyre. Myses showed an offshore distribution in all 

 but the Tortugas transect during leg 2, where most 

 larvae were found inshore. The great concentration 

 of Solenocera larvae at the inshore stations of the 

 Tortugas transect in early June between 25 and 75 

 m in depth corresponded with the strongly developed 



Penaeus duorarum 



Range 1-5/ 100 m 



T r 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 



Range 1-10/ 100 m \ 



1 1 1 — 1 1 1 I - 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 



B 



Sicyoma sp. 



Range 1-11 / 100 m"* 



T r~ 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 



Solenocera sp. 



Leg 1 



Range 1-11 / 100 m' \* 



T 1 r~ 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 



Range 

 1-128/ 100 m 1 



— 1 1 1 -T 1 1 1 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 



Leg 2 



Leg 3 



Leg 4 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 



Distance offshore (km) 



Figure 5 



Cross section of Tortugas transect during the four legs showing the vertical distribution and relative concentrations (larvae/100 

 m 3 ) of the three penaeoid species: pink shrimp, Penaeus duorarum (A); the rock shrimp Sicyonia sp. (B); and the humpback 

 shrimp Solenocera sp. (C), superimposed over the vertical temperature profiles (°C) from the MOCNESS temperatures. Symbols 

 are proportional in size to the abundance range. The stars = no catch. 



