Cross-shore separation of adult and juvenile euphausiids in a shelf-break alongshore current

Euphausiids are an important component of the zooplankton in boundary current upwelling regions, including the Pacific Northwest continental margin. Many aspects of euphausiid distribution and ecology in this region are well known. However, some features of their spatial and temporal distribution are less understood:• d why euphausiids aggregate near the shelf-break upwelling center. d why there is (within an alongshore band of high abundance of all stages) spatial segregation of adults and larvae. espite spatial association with upwelling, euphausiid abundance off Vancouver Island is weakly or negatively correlated at interannual time scales with upwelling intensity. dress these, we made km-resolution surveys of adult, juvenile, and larval euphausiid horizontal distributions, water properties, and currents across the Vancouver Island shelf break in mid-to-late spring of two successive years. Survey timing was before (1997) and after (1998) the spring transition to upwelling conditions, and near the annual spring reproductive peak. In both years, early developmental stages occupied an alongshore band that was offset from the late juveniles and adults. The direction of the offset differed between the two surveys. Early life history stages (larvae and early juveniles) were shoreward of adults in April 1997 (downwelling-conditions), but seaward of adults in May 1998 (upwelling-conditions). Separation distance (order 5–10 km) was consistent with expected differences in cumulative wind-driven (and vertically-sheared) cross-shore transport of surface-dwelling larvae and early juveniles vs. transport of diel migratory late juveniles and adults. Separation direction was consistent with recent history of winds and Ekman transport—shoreward during poleward winds, and seaward into blue water (and usually into a strong equatorward current) during equatorward winds.