Cod “supergenes” have shed light on how they respond to overfishing, and these supergenes could make them more resilient to other environmental changes. That’s according to a new study published by scientists in Norway. This could be good news, in that cod have genetic architecture in place that will permit them to respond to climate change – but for now this is rather speculative.
For those of us who study how fish species evolve under strong selective pressure from commercial fishing, cod has been a poster species. For instance scientists have previously found that cod in the north west Atlantic showed signs of reproducing at a smaller size or younger age before numbers collapsed.
