We evaluated recruitment of larvae of catarina scallop, Argopecten ventricosus, in the area of Puerto Peñasco, NE Gulf of California. We moored artificial collectors in 6 sites from June 2007 to August 2008 and replaced them every 2 months. We used monthly (July 2002-September 2011) sea surface temperature (SST, oC) and surface chlorophyll-a concentration (SSChl, mg m-3) Aqua/MODIS satellite data to describe seasonal environmental behavior study area. Also, we recorded bottom temperature at each site every 4 hours, and every two months measured sea surface salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. We used a repeated measures ANOVA to evaluate differences in the number of recruited spat between main factors, and analyzed the presence of multimodal spat shell size frequency distributions. Overall, spat recruitment was negatively correlated with seawater temperature and showed higher spat recruitment abundances throughout winter, which is the season with the highest surface chlorophyll a concentration. We estimated multimodal shell size frequency distributions characterized by more than one modal size. The natural collection of A. ventricosus spat on artificial collectors in the area can be successfully performed over a protracted period (November-December to May-June). Our results extend the area where collection of A. ventricosus spat can be successful.Fil: Soria, Rodrigo Gaspar. University Of Arizona; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Lavin, Miguel F.. Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada. Departamento de Oceanografía Física; MéxicoFil: Martínez Tovar, Ivan. Centro Intercultural de Estudios de Desiertos y Oceanos; MéxicoFil: Macias Duarte, Alberto. University Of Arizona; Estados Unido
