From a set of satellite and hydrographic data and zooplankton samples, effects of thermal fronts and mesoscale structures on the distribution and transport of fish larvae in the Midriff Archipelago Region (MAR) of the Gulf of California during a summer (June 2006) and a winter (February 2007) were analyzed. Using the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) gradient magnitude, a frontal system was defined in the southern part of the MAR during both periods. The most intense fronts (>0.08 °C km ⁻¹) originated at the convergence between cold waters from the continuous vertical mixing at the sills and basins and warm water of the southern Gulf of California. These fronts varied in their orientations, from near longitudinal in June 2006 to near transverse in February 2007, with respect to the axis of the gulf. The surface currents showed high occurrence of eddies associated with the sills and basins in the MAR. Fish larvae of the most abundant and frequent species, Benthosema panamense, Serranus sp. 1, Triphoturus mexicanus and Haemulon californiensis in June 2006, and Engraulis mordax, Leuroglossus stilbius, Sardinops sagax and Diogenichthys laternatus in February 2007 exhibited the highest larval abundance in both the strongest thermal fronts and the anticyclonic eddies observed over the southernmost basin. The exception was the E. mordax larvae, which were distributed in all the study area. A Lagrangian particle tracking model applied to the MAR domain showed high particle accumulation in the strongest fronts and eddies on the 7th and the 14th day in both periods. The connectivity matrixes showed retention of particles >70% in most cases, but in the sill area, there was transport from south to north in June 2006 (~30%), and from east to west in February 2007 (~30%). Results demonstrate that the interaction of the thermal fronts, independent of their position, and the mesoscale eddies may generate great accumulation of fish larvae, and possibly of other zooplankton groups, limiting transport between the northern and southern Gulf of California.

从一组卫星和水文数据以及浮游动物样本中，夏季（2006年6月）和冬季，热锋和中尺度结构对加利福尼亚湾中弗里德群岛地区（MAR）鱼幼虫的分布和运输的影响（2007年2月）进行了分析。利用海表温度（SST）梯度幅度，在两个时期的MAR南部都定义了一个额叶系统。最强的锋面（> 0.08°C km ^-1）源自冷水之间的汇合，该冷水源于窗台和盆地的连续垂直混合与南加州海湾的暖水之间的汇合。这些锋线的方向各不相同，从2006年6月的近乎纵向到2007年2月的近乎横向（相对于海湾的轴线）。在MAR中，地表电流显示出与基坑和盆地相关的涡流的高发。最丰富和频繁的鱼类幼虫，Benthosema panamense，Serranus sp。1、2006年6月的墨西哥Triphoturus mexicanus和Haemulon californiensis，以及Engraulis mordax，Leuroglossus stilbius，Sardinops sagax和在最强的热锋和在最南端的盆地中观察到的反气旋涡流中，2007年2月的Diogenichthys Laternatus表现出最高的幼虫丰度。例外是大肠杆菌幼虫，分布在整个研究区域。应用于MAR域的拉格朗日粒子跟踪模型显示，在两个时期的第7天和第14天，在最强的锋面和涡流中都有大量的粒子堆积。在大多数情况下，连通性矩阵显示出保留率> 70％的粒子，但在基石区域，2006年6月从南向北（〜30％）和2007年2月从东向西（〜30％）进行了传输。结果表明，热锋的相互作用，与它们的位置和中尺度涡旋无关，可能会导致鱼幼体以及其他浮游动物群体的大量堆积，从而限制了加利福尼亚湾北部和南部之间的运输。