Behavior of Settling Marine Larvae in Flow

Many bottom-dwelling marine animals produce microscopic larvae that are dispersed by ambient water currents.   These larvae can only recruit to habitats on which they have landed if they can resist being washed away by ambient water flow. We found that larvae on marine surfaces do not experience steady water flow, but rather are exposed to brief pulses of water movement as turbulent eddies sweep across them.  We made video recordings of larvae of the tube worm, Hydroides elegans, (important members of the community of organisms growing on docks and ships) on surfaces subjected to measured realistic flow pulses to study factors that might affect their dislodgement from surfaces in nature.  We found that the response of a larva of H. elegans to a realistic pulse of water flow depended on its behavior at the time of the pulse and on its recent history of exposure to flow pulses, and that stationary larvae were less likely than locomoting larvae to be blown away when hit by the first pulse of water flow.