This study of Delaware Bay, USA, uses a numerical particle tracking model to examine the exchange of material between the bay and adjacent continental shelf on seasonal timescales. Vertically averaged, near-bottom, and near-surface transport were targeted by simulating particles with three different types of behavior: neutrally buoyant, bottom-seeking (similar to silt settling), and surface-seeking (similar to the slow rise of...

The intensity of small‐scale fluid motions varies among coastal seascapes, which could drive species‐specific behavioral adaptations in planktonic larvae. For example, inlets and estuaries typically have stronger turbulence and weaker surface gravity waves than the continental shelf. In the Mid‐Atlantic Bight, eastern mudsnails ( Ilyanassa obsoleta ) inhabit inlets and estuaries, whereas threeline mudsnails ( Ilyanassa trivitt...

Intertidal gastropod larvae retract their vela and sink in strong turbulence, and this behavior potentially increases settlement in turbulent coastal habitats. We incorporated turbulence‐induced sinking behavior of mud snail larvae ( Ilyanassa obsoleta ) in a vertical advection‐diffusion model to characterize behavioral effects on larval supply and settlement in a tidal channel. Throughout flood and ebb tides, larvae that sink...

Larvae of coastal gastropods sink in turbulence and may use nearshore turbulence as an initial settlement cue. Our objective was to quantify the relationship between turbulence and the proportion of sinking larvae for competent mud snail veligers ( Ilyanassa obsoleta ). We exposed larvae to a range of field‐relevant turbulence conditions (ɛ = 8.1 × 10 −3 to 2.7 × 10 0 cm 2 s −3 ) in a grid‐stirred tank, holding other factors c...