Behavioral cues, recruitment, and relative mobility: Rocky shores vs sediments

The paradigm for recruitment of marine organisms derives principally from work on primary space occupiers of the rocky intertidal where gregarious cues appear to be common. In contrast, decades of research on the macroinfauna of sedimentary habitats has produced few examples of gregarious cues. One possible explanation is that infauna, both juveniles and adults, are significantly more mobile than are primary space occupiers on rock surfaces. Mobility and the likelihood of one or more episodes of emigration of juveniles or even adults could alter the selective forces on specificity of initial habitat selection by larvae of sediment dwellers.