Recruitment dynamics of metamorphosing English sole,Parophorys vetulus,to Yaquina Bay,Oregon

English sole, Parophrys vetulus, spawn in shelf waters off the west coast of North America and early development occurs in coastal waters. Near metamorphosis, however, larvae recruit to nearshore and estuarine nursery areas, an uncommon life-history feature for a species in this region. Recruitment of larval P. vetulus to Yaquina Bay, Oregon, was sampled with moored nets on a weekly basis. Recruitment began during night flood tides in late February and was characterized by three peaks during the season. Planktonic recruitment continued into June, whereas benthic juveniles began to emigrate from the estuary in late May.The data suggest that two developmental stages of recruits immigrated to Yaquina Bay. The first are newly transforming larvae which enter the bay earliest within each peak of recruitment; peaks of abundance are related to onshore Ekman transport. This transport also brings larvae to shallow areas along the open coast where they settle. These transforming stages are still capable of pelagic swimming activity and continue to recruit to the estuary, typically swimming deeper in the water column than the early stages. Estuarine factors, particularly bottom salinity at the end of ebb tide, are most strongly correlated with recruitment of these stages. It seems that tidal stream transport is the primary mechanism used by English sole to recruit to the estuary, but the mechanism of locating the estuary and timing of entry is relatively complex.