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Annual publications involving the application of coupled physical–biological models for understanding fish recruitment processes have increased over the last decade. Sixty-nine papers were reviewed to assess the contribution these models have made to recruitment prediction and understanding. The majority of models reviewed were 2-and 3-dimensional numerical simulation models, although a limited number of 1-dimensional analytical models were included. Most models used a Lagrangian tracking algorithm to advect and diffuse particles within the model domain. The vertical and horizontal resolutions and temporal durations of the models varied widely. This review identified 3 categories of papers: explanatory, inferential and hypothesis generating. Reviewed papers were dominated by explanatory approaches. Assessment of the sensitivity of model predictions to the model parameters were rare, but not …