The brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum is a dominant rocky intertidal organism throughout much of the North Atlantic Ocean, yet its inability to colonize exposed or denuded shores is well recognized. Our experimental data show that wave action is a major source of mortality to recently settled zygotes. Artificially recruited zygotes consistently exhibited a Type IV survivorship curve in the presence of moving water. As few as 10, but often only 1 relatively low energy wave removed 85 to 99% of recently settled zygotes. Increasing the setting time for attachment of zygotes (prior to disturbance from water movement) had a positive effect on survival. However, survival was significantly lower at high densities, and decreased at long (24 h) setting times, probably as a result of bacteria on the surface of zygotes. Spatial refuges provided significant protection from gentle water movement but relatively little protection from waves.