We would like to acknowledge Virginia Sea Grant for providing program development funds and Tidewater Oyster Growers Association for granting B. Turley a fellowship in support for this research. We would also like to thank the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) especially, Tommy Leggett, Jackie Shannon, CBF volunteers, and citizen scientist volunteers living on the Lafayette River that took care of spat collectors and provided dock space for this research. Also, Jane Dodge and students in her marine science class from Grafton High School in Yorktown, Virginia were instrumental in counting oyster spat. Thanks to Heidi Brightman for laboratory support at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), and Fluidigm technical support. Thank you to B.

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Wind-induced mixing can affect the vertical distribution of plankton in the upper water column, influencing the prey available for larval fishes. The stable ocean hypothesis proposes that periods of calm winds facilitate the development of plankton layers at concentrations sufficient for successful larval foraging and increased survival. Conversely, storm events redistribute prey, leading to reduced foraging success. Here, we investigate this hypothesis by comparing larval fish mortality rates estimated from 37 years of ichthyoplankton data against metrics of wind events defined as storms and calm periods. Contrary to expectations, we found that mortality for Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) significantly decreased as storm events increased in the southern California Current Ecosystem. Mortality rates for northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax), Pacific mackerel (Scomber japonicus), and jack mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus) had no relationship to storms, and no species’ mortality rates were related to the number of calm events. Our results highlight the differing sensitivities of larval survival among fishes in the region and indicate that responses to atmospheric processes are species-dependent.

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