The Atlantic cod (''Gadus morhua'') is a
benthopelagic fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...
of the family
Gadidae, widely
consumed by humans. It is also
commercially known as
cod or codling.
[''Atlantic Cod'']
. Seafood Portal. Dry cod may be prepared as unsalted
stockfish,
[''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd ed. "milwell, ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2002.][''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "stock-fish , 'stockfish, ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1917.] and as
cured salt cod
Dried and salted cod, sometimes referred to as salt cod or saltfish or salt dolly, is cod which has been preserved by drying after salting. Cod which has been dried without the addition of salt is stockfish. Salt cod was long a major export of ...
or
clipfish.
In the western Atlantic Ocean, cod has a distribution north of
Cape Hatteras
Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina.
Long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and maritime forests create a unique environment where wind and waves shap ...
,
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
, and around both coasts of
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...
and the
Labrador Sea
The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. I ...
; in the eastern Atlantic, it is found from the
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
north to the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
, including the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...
, the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
,
Sea of the Hebrides, areas around
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
and the
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian ter ...
.
Atlantic cod can live for up to 25 years and typically grow up to 100–140 cm, but individuals in excess of 180 cm and 50 kg have been caught. They will attain sexual maturity between ages two and eight with this varying between populations and has varied over time.
Colouring is brown or green, with spots on the
dorsal side, shading to silver ventrally. A stripe along its
lateral line (used to detect vibrations)
is clearly visible. Its
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
ranges from the coastal shoreline down to along the
continental shelf.
Atlantic cod is one of the most heavily fished species. Atlantic cod was fished for a thousand years by north European fishers who followed it across the North Atlantic Ocean to North America. It supported the US and Canada fishing economy until 1992, when there was a ban on fishing cod.
Several cod stocks collapsed in the 1990s (decline of more than 95% of maximum historical
biomass
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...
) and have failed to fully recover even with the cessation of fishing.
This absence of the
apex predator has led to a
trophic cascade in many areas.
Many other cod stocks remain at risk. The Atlantic cod is labelled vulnerable on the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, per a 1996 assessment that the IUCN notes needs updating.
A 2013 assessment covering only Europe shows the Atlantic cod has rebounded in Europe, and it has been relabelled least concern.
Taxonomy
The Atlantic cod is one of three cod species in the genus ''
Gadus ''along with
Pacific cod and
Greenland cod. A variety of fish species are colloquially known as cod, but they are not all classified within the ''Gadus'', though some are in the Atlantic cod family,
Gadidae.
Behaviour
Shoaling
Atlantic cod are a
shoaling species and move in large, size-structured aggregations. Larger fish act as scouts and lead the shoal's direction, particularly during post
spawning migrations inshore for feeding. Cod actively feed during migration and changes in shoal structure occur when food is encountered. Shoals are generally thought to be relatively leaderless, with all fish having equal status and an equal distribution of resources and benefits.
However, some studies suggest that leading fish gain certain feeding benefits. One study of a migrating Atlantic cod shoal showed significant variability in feeding habits based on size and position in the shoal. Larger scouts consumed a more variable, higher quantity of food, while trailing fish had less variable diets and consumed less food. Fish distribution throughout the shoal seems to be dictated by fish size, and ultimately, the smaller lagging fish likely benefit from shoaling because they are more successful in feeding in the shoal than they would be if migrating individually, due to social facilitation.
Predation
Atlantic cod are apex predators in the Baltic and adults are generally free from the concerns of
predation
Predation is a biological interaction
In ecology, a biological interaction is the effect that a pair of organisms living together in a community have on each other. They can be either of the same species (intraspecific interactions), or o ...
.
Juvenile cod, however, may serve as prey for adult cod, which sometimes practice
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
. Juvenile cod make substrate decisions based on risk of predation. Substrates refer to different feeding and swimming environments. Without apparent risk of predation, juvenile cod demonstrated a preference for finer-grained substrates such as sand and gravel-pebble. However, in the presence of a predator, they preferred to seek safety in the space available between stones of a cobble substrate. Selection of cobble significantly reduces the risk of predation. Without access to cobble, the juvenile cod simply tries to escape a predator by fleeing.
Additionally, juvenile Atlantic cod vary their behaviour according to the foraging behaviour of predators. In the vicinity of a passive predator, cod behaviour changes very little. The juveniles prefer finer-grained substrates and otherwise avoid the safer kelp, steering clear of the predator. In contrast, in the presence of an actively foraging predator, juveniles are highly avoidant and hide in cobble or in kelp if cobble is unavailable.
Heavy fishing of cod in the 1990s and the collapse of American and
Canadian cod
Canadian Atlantic Cod (''Gadus morhua''), are cold water fish, which weigh in the wild. Atlantic Cod were originally found in the Atlantic Ocean, along the borders of both Canada, England, and throughout the United States. Heavy fishing in the ...
stocks resulted in
trophic cascades. As cod are
apex predators,
overfishing
Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in the ...
them removed a significant predatory pressure on other Atlantic fish and crustacean species. Population-limiting effects on several species including
American lobsters,
crabs, and
shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...
from cod predation have decreased significantly, and the abundance of these species and their increasing range serve as evidence of the Atlantic cod's role as a major predator rather than prey.
Swimming
Atlantic cod have been recorded to swim at speeds of a minimum of and a maximum of with a mean swimming speed of . In one hour, cod have been recorded to cover a mean range of . Swimming speed was higher during the day than at night. This is reflected in the fact that cod more actively search for food during the day. Cod likely modify their activity pattern according to the length of daylight, thus activity varies with time of year.
Response to changing temperatures
Swimming and physiological behaviours change in response to fluctuations in water temperature.
Respirometry experiments show that heart rates of Atlantic cod change drastically with changes in temperature of only a few degrees. A rise in water temperature causes marked increases in cod swimming activity. Cod typically avoid new temperature conditions, and the temperatures can dictate where they are distributed in water. They prefer to be deeper, in colder water layers during the day, and in shallower, warmer water layers at night. These fine-tuned behavioural changes to water temperature are driven by an effort to maintain homeostasis to preserve energy. This is demonstrated by the fact that a decrease of only caused a highly costly increase in metabolic rate of 15 to 30%.
Feeding and diet
The diet of the Atlantic cod consists of fish such as herring, capelin, and sand eels, as well as mollusks, crustaceans and sea worms. Stomach sampling studies have discovered that small Atlantic cod feed primarily on crustaceans, while large Atlantic cod feed primarily on fish.
In certain regions, the main food source is
decapods
The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is es ...
with fish as a complementary food item in the diet.
Wild Atlantic cod throughout the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
depend, to a large extent, on commercial fish species also used in fisheries, such as
Atlantic mackerel
The Atlantic mackerel (''Scomber scombrus''), also known as Boston mackerel, Norwegian mackerel, Scottish mackerel or just mackerel, is a species of mackerel found in the temperate waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the north ...
,
haddock
The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas w ...
,
whiting,
Atlantic herring,
European plaice, and
common sole, making fishery manipulation of cod significantly easier.
Ultimately, food selection by cod is affected by the food item size relative to their own size. However, providing for size, cod do exhibit food preference and are not simply driven by availability.
Atlantic cod practice some
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
. In the southern North Sea, 1–2% (by weight) of stomach contents for cod larger than consisted of juvenile cod. In the northern North Sea, cannibalism was higher, at 10%.
Other reports of cannibalism have estimated as high as 56% of the diet consists of juvenile cod.
Reproduction
File:Gravid female cod.jpg, Spawning female in captivity
File:Jonge kabeljauwen of gul nieuwsgierig bij een wrak-4885743.webm, Juveniles on a wreck in the North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
File:Gadus morhua (head).jpg, Atlantic cod juvenile
File:Gadus morhua Cod-2b-Atlanterhavsparken-Norway.JPG, Adult
Atlantic cod will attain sexual maturity between ages two and eight with this varying between different populations and has also varied over time with a population.
Their
gonad
A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a mixed gland that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism. Female reproductive cells are egg cells, and male reproductive cells are sperm. The male gonad, the testicle, produces ...
s take several months to develop and most populations will spawn from January to May. For many populations, the spawning grounds are located in a different area than the feeding grounds so require the fish to migrate in order to spawn. On the spawning area, males and females will form large schools. Based on behavioral observations of cod, the cod mating system has been likened to a
lekking
A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. A lek can also indicate an avail ...
system, which is characterized by males aggregating and establishing dominance hierarchies, at which point females may visit and choose a spawning partner based on status and sexual characteristics.
Evidence suggests male sound production and other sexually selected characteristics allow female cod to actively choose a spawning partner. Males also exhibit aggressive interactions for access to females.
Atlantic cod are batch spawners, in which females will spawn approximately 5-20 batches of eggs over a period of time with 2–4 days between the release of each batch. Each female will spawn between 2 hundred thousand and 15 million eggs, with larger females spawning more eggs. Females release gametes in a ventral mount, and males then
fertilize
Fertilisation or fertilization (see spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give rise to a new individual organism or offspring and initiate its development. Proce ...
the released eggs. The eggs and newly hatched larvae float freely in the water and will drift with the current, with some populations relying upon the current to transport the larvae to nursery areas.
Parasites
Atlantic cod act as intermediate, paratenic, or definitive hosts to a large number of parasite species: 107 taxa listed by Hemmingsen and MacKenzie (2001)
and seven new records by Perdiguero-Alonso et al. (2008).
The predominant groups of cod parasites in the northeast Atlantic were
trematode
Trematoda is a Class (biology), class of flatworms known as flukes. They are obligate parasite, obligate internal Parasitism, parasites with a complex biological life cycle, life cycle requiring at least two Host_(biology), hosts. The intermedia ...
s (19 species) and
nematodes (13 species), including larval
anisakid
''Anisakis'' (a·nuh·saa·keez)
is a genus of parasitic nematodes that have life cycles involving fish and marine mammals. They are infective to humans and cause anisakiasis. People who produce immunoglobulin E in response to this parasite ...
s, which comprised 58.2% of the total number of individuals.
Parasites of Atlantic cod include
copepod
Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have p ...
s,
digenean
Digenea (Gr. ''Dis'' – double, ''Genos'' – race) is a class of trematodes in the Platyhelminthes phylum, consisting of parasitic flatworms (known as ''flukes'') with a syncytial tegument and, usually, two suckers, one ventral and one oral. ...
s,
monogeneans,
acanthocephalans,
cestode
Cestoda is a Class (biology), class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodi ...
s,
nematodes,
myxozoans, and
protozoans.
Fisheries

Atlantic cod has been targeted by humans for food for thousands of years, and with the advent of modern fishing technology in the 1950s there was a rapid rise in landings.
Cod is caught using a variety of fishing gears including
bottom trawls,
demersal longlines,
Danish seine
Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be dep ...
,
jigging
Jigging is the practice of fishing with a jig, a type of weighted fishing lure. A jig consists of a heavy metal (typically lead) sinker with an attached fish hook that is usually obscured inside a soft lure or feather-like decorations. Ji ...
and
hand lines. The quantity of cod landed from fisheries has been recorded by many countries from around the 1950s and attempts have been made to reconstruct historical catches going back hundreds of years.
ICES
ICES (formerly known as the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) is an independent, non-profit corporation that applies the study of health informatics for health services research and population-wide health outcomes research in Ontario ...
and
NAFO NAFO may refer to:
* Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization
* North Atlantic Fellas Organization, an Internet meme and social media phenomenon
See also
* Nafo, a village in Burkina Faso
* For the headgear of Senegal called ''Nafo'' see Kufi
...
collects landings data, alongside other data, which is used to assess the status of the population against management objectives. The landings in the eastern Atlantic frequently exceeds 1 million tonnes annually from across 16 populations/management units with landings from the Northeast Atlantic cod population and Iceland accounting for the majority of the landings, Since 1992, when the cod
moratorium took effect in Canada, landings in the western Atlantic have been considerably lower than in the eastern Atlantic, generally being less than 50,000 tonnes annually.
Northwest Atlantic cod
The Northwest Atlantic cod has been regarded as heavily overfished throughout its range, resulting in a crash in the fishery in the United States and Canada during the early 1990s.
Newfoundland's northern cod fishery can be traced back to the 16th century. On average, about of cod were landed annually until the 1960s, when advances in technology enabled factory trawlers to take larger catches. By 1968, landings for the fish peaked at before a gradual decline set in. With the reopening of the limited cod fisheries in 2006, nearly of cod were hauled in. In 2007, offshore cod stocks were estimated at 1% of what they were in 1977.
Technologies that contributed to the collapse of Atlantic cod include engine-powered vessels and frozen food compartments aboard ships. Engine-powered vessels had larger nets, greater range, and better navigation. The capacity to catch fish became limitless. In addition, sonar technology gave an edge to detecting and catching fish. Sonar was originally developed during World War II to locate enemy submarines, but was later applied to locating schools of fish. These new technologies, as well as bottom trawlers that destroyed entire ecosystems, contributed to the collapse of Atlantic cod. They were vastly different from old techniques used, such as hand lines and long lines.
The fishery has only recently begun to recover, and may never fully recover because of a possibly stable change in the
food chain. Atlantic cod was a top-tier predator, along with
haddock
The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas w ...
,
flounder
Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries.
Taxonomy
The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, tho ...
and
hake, feeding upon smaller prey, such as
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocea ...
,
capelin,
shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...
, and
snow crab.
With the large predatory fish removed, their prey have had population explosions and have become the top predators, affecting the survival rates of cod eggs and fry.
In the winter of 2011–2012, the cod fishery succeeded in convincing
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
to postpone for one year the planned 82% reduction in catch limits. Instead, the limit was reduced by 22%. The fishery brought in $15.8 million in 2010, coming second behind Georges Bank haddock among the region's 20 regulated bottom-dwelling
groundfish. Data released in 2011 indicated that even closing the fishery would not allow populations to rebound by 2014 to levels required under federal law. Restrictions on cod effectively limit fishing on other groundfish species with which the cod swim, such as
flounder
Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries.
Taxonomy
The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, tho ...
and haddock.
Northeast Atlantic cod

The Northeast Atlantic has the world's largest population of cod. By far, the largest part of this population is the Northeast Arctic cod, as it is labelled by the
ICES
ICES (formerly known as the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) is an independent, non-profit corporation that applies the study of health informatics for health services research and population-wide health outcomes research in Ontario ...
, or the Arcto-Norwegian cod stock, also referred to as ''skrei'', a Norwegian name meaning something like "the wanderer", distinguishing it from coastal cod. The Northeast Arctic cod is found in the
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian ter ...
area. This stock spawns in March and April along the Norwegian coast, about 40% around the
Lofoten
Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolv� ...
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
. Newly hatched larvae drift northwards with the coastal current while feeding on larval
copepod
Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have p ...
s. By summer, the young cod reach the Barents Sea, where they stay for the rest of their lives, until their spawning migration. As the cod grow, they feed on
krill and other small crustaceans and fish. Adult cod primarily feed on fish such as
capelin and
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocea ...
. The northeast Arctic cod also show
cannibalistic behaviour. Estimated stock size was in 2008.
The North Sea cod stock is primarily fished by
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
member states, the United Kingdom and Norway. In 1999, the catch was divided among Denmark (31%), Scotland (25%), the rest of the United Kingdom (12%), the Netherlands (10%), Belgium, Germany and Norway (17%). In the 1970s, the annual catch rose to between . Due to concerns about
overfishing
Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in the ...
, catch quotas were repeatedly reduced in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2003, ICES stated a high risk existed of stock collapse if then current exploitation levels continued, and recommended a moratorium on catching Atlantic cod in the North Sea during 2004. However, agriculture and fisheries ministers from the
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...
endorsed the EU/Norway Agreement and set the total allowable catch at .
Seafood sustainability guides, such as the
Monterey Bay Aquarium's
Seafood Watch, often recommend environmentally conscious customers not purchase Atlantic cod.
The stock of Northeast Arctic cod was more than four million tons following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, but declined to a historic minimum of in 1983. The catch reached a historic maximum of in 1956, and bottomed out at in 1990. Since 2000, the spawning stock has increased quite quickly, helped by low fishing pressure. The total catch in 2012 was , the major fishers being Norway and Russia.
Baltic cod
Decades of overfishing in combination with environmental problems, namely little water exchange, low salinity and oxygen-depletion at the sea bottom, caused major threats to the Baltic cod stocks.
There are at least two populations of cod in the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...
: One large population that spawns east of
Bornholm
Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland.
Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...
and one population spawning west of Bornholm. Eastern Baltic cod is genetically distinct and adapted to the brackish environment. Adaptations include differences in hemoglobin type, osmoregulatory capacity, egg buoyancy, sperm swimming characteristics and spawning season. The adaptive responses to the environmental conditions in the Baltic Sea may contribute to an effective reproductive barrier, and thus, eastern Baltic cod can be viewed as an example of ongoing speciation. Due to drastically low cod population sizes, commercial fishing of eastern Baltic cod is prohibited since 2019. However, unfavourable environmental conditions in the eastern Baltic Sea, i.e., low salinity and increasing oxygen-depletion at the sea bottom, led to presently only the Bornholm Basin (Southern Baltic Sea) having sufficient conditions for successful reproduction of eastern Baltic cod.
The western Baltic cod consists of one or several small subpopulations that are genetically more similar to the North Sea cod. In the Arkona basin (located off
Cape Arkona,
Rügen
Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, w ...
), spawning and migrating cod from both the eastern and western stocks intermingle in proportions that vary seasonally. The immigration of eastern cod into the western Baltic management unit may mask a poor state of the populations in the western management unit.
See also
*
Cod War
The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each o ...
*''
Sacred Cod''
*
Cod as food
This article is about cod and other cod-like fishes from the family of Gadidae, such as haddock, pollock, and whiting, regarded as food.
Cod
Cod is popular as a food with a mild flavour and a dense, flaky white flesh. Young Atlantic cod o ...
*
scrod
Notes
References
This article incorporates CC BY-2.0 text from the reference.
External links
FishBaseICES recommendation for the North Sea Cod stock (2007)ICES recommendation for the North East Arctic Cod stock (2007)*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070305182003/http://www.fisheries.no/marine_stocks/fish_stocks/cod/north_east_arctic_cod.htm Governmental Norwegian fact sheet on North-East Arctic CodAtlantic cod-Gadus morhua fishery profilesStatus of Atlantic cod fisheries, summarised in FisheriesWiki
*
* View th
Atlantic cod genomein
Ensembl
Ensembl genome database project is a scientific project at the European Bioinformatics Institute, which provides a centralized resource for geneticists, molecular biologists and other researchers studying the genomes of our own species and other ...
Government of Canada Seafisheries Landings*
*
Pauly, Daniel, and Ashley McCrea Stru. “Atlantic Cod: Past and Present.” Sea Around Us, 21 May 2015, www.seaaroundus.org/atlantic-cod-past-and-present/.
{{Authority control
Atlantic cod
Commercial fish
Fish of the Arctic Ocean
Marine fish of Europe
Fish of Europe
Fish of the North Sea
Fish of the Baltic Sea
Fish of Greenland
Fauna of Atlantic Canada
Fauna of the Northeastern United States
Sport fish
Atlantic cod
Atlantic cod