The life cycle and recruitment of the sand shrimp,Crangon septemspinosa, in the Mystic River estuary, Connecticut

Sampling theC. septemspinosa population of the Mystic River Estuary simultaneously in deep water and along the shoreline indicated that this population has two major reproductive periods. Berried females move into the estuary in early spring and late autumn to hatch their eggs. Two-and three-year-old females produce the larvae in the spring and 1.0- to 1.5-year-old females give rise to the larvae in winter. All larvae are carried seaward by the tidal currents and eventually settle as juveniles in the deep water near the mouth of the estuary or on the continental shelf. Juveniles from the spring hatch migrate to the shallow shoreline where they grow, rapidly, 0.15 mg/day. Those that hatch during the late autumn do not migrate shoreward. A model of this life cycle and evidence to support two recruitment mechanisms that involve inshore migration of adults and the offshore drift of the larvae are presented.