62 



Fishery Bulletin 104(1) 



26°N (s 



25°N 



24-N 



83 W 



82'W 



81 "W 



80°W 



Figure 1 



Map of the study area (with bathymetryl showing the channel net sampling stations 

 at the northwestern and southeastern borders of the nursery grounds of Florida Bay, 

 ADCP moorings, and CMAN and COMP stations. The Tortugas fishing grounds (area 

 enclosed by dashed line) includes the center of spawning for Farfantepenaeus duorarum 

 (filled ellipse). Northwestern stations: MG = Middle Ground and SK=Sandy Key; Florida 

 Key stations: WH=Whale Harbor and PH = Panhandle; A and B = onshore and offshore 

 ADCP moorings respectively; l = Long Key CMAN station; 2 = NW Florida Bay COMP 

 station. Small map at the left corner indicates major currents in the Gulf of Mexico 

 and off the coast of Florida. CC = Caribbean Current; LC = Loop Current; FC = Florida 

 Current; GS = Gulf Stream. 



pink shrimp across the SW Florida shelf that combines 

 the effect of hydrodynamics with larval behavior. Four 

 modes of behavior-related transport were simulated 

 under hydrodynamic conditions occurring on the SW 

 Florida shelf in order that the resulting distances trav- 

 eled under each condition might be contrasted. 



Material and methods 



Pink shrimp postlarvae were collected in two regions of 

 Florida Bay to evaluate postulated hypotheses of eastern 

 and western gateways and pathways of larval transport 

 into the bay. The two study sites consisted of two large 

 channels connecting northwestern Florida Bay with the 

 SW Florida shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (Sandy Key Chan- 

 nel [SK], and Middle Ground [MG]); and of more confined 

 tidal channels in the Middle Florida Keys that connect 

 the Bay with the Atlantic Ocean (Whale Harbor [WH], 



and Panhandle Key [PH]) (Fig. 1). Adjacent mud banks 

 that are occasionally exposed at low tide and over-topped 

 at higher tide stages define these channels. The averaged 

 depth, tidal flow, and cross sectional area of the four 

 channels are summarized in Table 1 to show the differ- 

 ent levels of water flow through these pathways. Chan- 

 nels depths are similar, but western channels (Middle 

 Ground and Sandy Key) have higher tidal flows and 

 larger cross sectional areas than the Florida Keys chan- 

 nels (Table 1). Tidal fluctuations are primarily semidiur- 

 nal at all stations and have weaker diurnal constituents 

 (Smith, 1998, 2000). Acoustic Doppler velocity meters 

 (ADVMs) that measure continuous velocity and depth 

 (tide and stage) and associated CTD instruments that 

 measure conductivity and temperature were installed at 

 each channel in January 2002. A boat-mounted acoustic 

 Doppler current profiler (ADCP) was used to calculate 

 total discharge across the cross-section of the channel 

 during monthly sampling (Hittle et al., 2001). 



