It is believed that the genus Callinectes is to have first evolved in the warm waters offshore of the American tropics. Breeding populations of C. sapidus can be found extending from Long Island to the northern Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. As adults, the two species have an incredibly high tolerance to a wide range of abiotic conditions and are able to live in habitats ranging from fresh water to the high-salinity waters of the inner continental shelf. These patches are believed to form by a common desire to seek regions of optimal temperature and salinity. Because gravid females release such a high number of larvae at the time of spawning, the patches usually consist of a very large number of zoeae.
Larval patches do seem to have their advantages.
More, larvae benefit from patches because they are able to find food items as a group, instead of individually, as the case would be if the larvae were freely distributed, and not traveling in a group. The purpose of this experiment is to gain further understanding of the larval patches of Callinectes sapidus . Through repeated plankton tows, an understanding of patch dynamics, including size of the patches, cohesion, and duration of the patches, will be acquired.