Lynnath E. Beckley

School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, 90 South St,
Murdoch, Western Australia 6150

Although the poleward flow of the Leeuwin Current off Western Australia
is unique among southern hemisphere eastern boundary currents, the
biological oceanography of the Leeuwin Current system is comparatively
poorly known. In this seminar,  the influence of the Leeuwin Current on
transport and survival of larval fishes, and possible implications for
fisheries, are examined from a variety of larval fish studies completed
off Western Australia. These range from light-trap experiments focusing
on tropical fish larvae off the north-western coast, to studies on
larvae of commercially significant temperate clupeiod species. The
studies show larval fish assemblages within the Leeuwin Current to be
composed of a mixture of oceanic, slope, tropical and temperate coastal
species, with strong seasonal variation in species composition.
Ichthyoplankton studies in progress off Western Australia aim to address
gaps in knowledge of the influence of the Leeuwin Current and its
meso-scale features.