The Philippines is described to have a tropical marine environment with relatively warm and less saline waters (Silvestre and Pauly, 1997) The average ocean surface temperature around the Philippine island is 27.3ºC (Saha, 2009). On the western flank of the Philippines, ocean current is carried by monsoon winds, the one turning northward and the other turning southward along the coasts of Visayas and Mindanao Island (Saha, 2009). Meanwhile, on the eastern shores of the Philippines, the Pacific ocean greatly influences two general divergent circulation, one current moves Northward in the Philippine Sea from the east coasts of Visayas, Samar and Bicol region and up to the Aurora and Isabela that turn into the Kuroshio current and the other current turns from down southward along the Northern then Southern Mindanao through the Celebes Sea (Aliño and Miclat, 2002). Water circulation and current is a major determinant in the dispersal and distribution of larvae from their point of origin to other areas (Aliño & Miclat, 2002).
Knowledge in ichthyoplankton dynamics…show more content… Understanding the effect of environmental factors to fish larva can help predict population and distribution patterns of the adult fish (Mundy 2005). Entrainments are often characterized by high diversity and productivity (Dransfled et al., 2003) which is an ideal for the survival or larval populations. Larval fishes are very fragile, physical parameters such as light, temperature and turbulence affect planktonic life. Larval fish population is susceptible to changes in environmental and water quality, thus any environmental impact can be detrimental to their population (Sundby, 1997; Katsuragawa,