Abstract Replenishment of local populations of reef fishes typically occurs via settlement of planktonic lar- vae, a process that is variable in space and time. We ex- amined spatial variation in settlement of three species of damselfishes (genus Dascyllus) in relation to variation in average near-field current speed. Although the larvae of these species colonized at the same times, they repeatedly exhibited qualitatively different spatial patterns of settle- ment in the lagoons of Moorea, French Polynesia. Each damselfish had a unique, temporally consistent pattern of variation in settlement relative to among-site variation in near-field flow speed. At the speeds encountered, settle- ment was related linearly to increasing average current flow for yellow-tail dascyllus (D. flavicaudus), was a positive but decelerating function for humbug dascyllus (D. aruanus) and was a hump-shaped function for three- spot dascyllus (D. trimaculatus). Such qualitatively dif- ferent relationships could arise if variation in current speed affected an individual’s probability of settling dif- ferently among the species. The generalized relationships between flow speed and settlement of these species pre- dicted well the pattern of covariation in settlement of these species among new sites where the availability of suitable habitat was standardized. These findings imply that differences in larval abilities in the near-field can re- sult in distinctly different patterns of larval colonization among species, even in the absence of any other source of variation. Keywords Settlement · Recruitment · Coral reef fishes · Dascyllus · Larval supply Introduction Numerous species have complex life cycles in which dif- ferent stages inhabit different environments. While it is recognized widely that the movement of individuals as they make transitions from one life stage to another has important population and community consequences, our understanding of the processes involved is often incom- plete. This is the case for marine reef invertebrates and fishes in which early developmental stages disperse in the plankton before transitioning to the reef habitats oc- cupied by older stages. The input of young to the reef environment can be extremely variable in space and time, and ecologists have focused considerable attention on the underlying causes of this variation. Despite a plethora of studies, we still lack a comprehensive answer to the general question of why larval colonization to marine reefs is so variable (Gaines and Bertness 1993). Further, even closely related species that settle at the same time often exhibit substantially different patterns of colonization (e.g.,Wellington 1992; Milicich and Doherty 1994; Sponaugle and Cowen 1996a; Schmitt and Holbrook 1999a; Booth et al. 2000). This raises the important issue of what produces variation in larval colonization among species that settle concurrently (Wellington 1992; Booth et al. 2000; Schmitt and Holbrook 2002). The general mechanisms that give rise to variation in settlement are well known (Underwood and Keough 2001) and include the production of larvae (Meekan et al. 1993), death during the planktonic stage (Houde 1987), oceanographic features that mix, retain and trans- port larvae (Roughgarden et al. 1987; Kingsford 1990; Jones et al. 1999; Swearer et al. 1999; Cowen et al. 2000), and larval behavior during dispersal and at settle- ment (Raimondi 1991; Keough and Raimondi 1995; Leis et al. 1996; Leis and Carson-Ewart 1998; Raimondi and Morse 2000; Schultz et al. 2000). Butman (1987) postu- lated that the importance of behavior increases relative to oceanographic features as larvae approach settlement. Settlement in response to cues is thought to be wide- R.J. Schmitt ( ✉ ) · S.J. Holbrook Coastal Research Center, Marine Science Institute and Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA e-mail: schmitt@lifesci.ucsb.edu Oecologia (2002) 131:391–401 DOI 10.1007/s00442-002-0893-9 POPULATION ECOLOGY R.J. Schmitt · S.J. Holbrook Spatial variation in concurrent settlement of three damselfishes: relationships with near-field current flow Received: 25 June 2001 / Accepted: 25 January 2002 / Published online: 5 April 2002 © Springer-Verlag 2002