Documenting larval behavior is critical for building an understanding of larval dispersal dynamics and resultant population connectivity. Nocturnal diel vertical migration (DVM), a daily migration towards the surface of the water column at night and downward during the day, can profoundly influence dispersal outcomes. Via laboratory experiments we investigated whether marine gastropod Kelletia kelletii larvae undergo nocturnal DVM and whether the behavior was influenced by the presence of light, ontogeny, and laboratory culturing column height. Larvae exhibited a daily migration pattern consistent with nocturnal diel vertical migration with lower average vertical positioning (ZCM) during day-time hours and higher vertical positioning at night-time hours. ZCM patterns varied throughout ontogeny; larvae became more demersal as they approached competency. There was no effect of column height on larval ZCM. DVM behavior persisted in the absence of light, indicating a possible endogenous rhythm. Findings from field plankton tows corroborated laboratory nocturnal DVM findings; significantly more K. kelletii were found in surface waters at midnight compared to at noon. Unraveling the timing of and the cues initiating DVM behavior in K. kelletii larvae can help build predictive models of dispersal outcomes for this emerging fishery species. 1. Introduction In open coast marine habitats, multiple factors influence larval dispersal destinations, including abiotic factors, such as current speed and direction, and biotic factors, such as timing of larval release and pelagic larval duration (PLD). Additionally, larvae of marine species living within estuaries, on coastal shelves, or near oceanic islands have been hypothesized to use vertical positioning behaviors that, when coupled with stratified countercurrents, promote retention or return to suitable settlement habitat [1–3]. Documenting this form of larval behavior is a critical component to building an understanding of larval dispersal dynamics [3–6]. Diel vertical migration (DVM) has been implicated in both modeling [7, 8] and empirical studies [9] as a positioning behavior that can affect dispersal outcomes. In nocturnal DVM, larvae migrate toward the surface of the water column at night, and then downward in the water column during the day. Reverse DVM shows the opposite pattern, but it is also thought to influence dispersal outcomes (e.g., [10]). These vertical migratory behaviors, or sensory capabilities that are consistent with vertical movement behaviors [11], have been observed in a wide variety of
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