Seasonal Settlement of Olympia Oyster Larvae,Ostrea luridaCarpenter 1864 and Its Relationship to Seawater Temperature in Two Southern California Estuaries

Abstract

ABSTRACT The continued lack of recovery of the United States west coast populations of the Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida † Carpenter 1864, has piqued recent interest in restoration projects. Because local population persistence is influenced by many factors, including larval settlement, information about the magnitude and timing of settlement will provide valuable contributions to such restoration efforts. We examined larval settlement as a function of season and also monitored water temperature, which is reported to influence settlement timing by cueing synchronized male spawning and subsequent larval settlement. Previous literature, based on an anomalous open coast population, found that settlement of O. lurida in La Jolla, CA occurred once seawater reached a temperature of 16°C. To observe variation over seasons in larval settlement density relative to temperature within the more common estuarine habitat in southern California, we placed ceramic tiles in two locations within Upper Newport Bay, Newport,...