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Aquaculture Environment Interactions
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AEI 7:167-177 (2015)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00145

Rapid morphological divergence of cultured cod of the northwest Atlantic from their source population

Brendan F. Wringe1,2,3,*, Ian A. Fleming1,3, Craig F. Purchase1,2

1Fish Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador A1C 5S7, Canada
2Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador A1B 3X9, Canada
3Department of Ocean Sciences, Ocean Sciences Centre, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador A1C 5S7, Canada
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: The performance of aquaculture escapees in the wild depends in part on how their morphology differs from that of wild fish. We compared farmed Atlantic cod Gadus morhua morphology to that of wild cod from the same ancestral population. Traditional and geometric morphometrics showed that farmed cod had relatively smaller fins, heads, eyes, and jaws than wild cod for a given size. Conversely, drumming muscle size and metrics of body and liver condition were greater in farmed fish. As the observed differences are likely due to phenotypic plasticity, their fitness consequences for escaped farmed fish may be transient.


KEY WORDS: Wild-farmed interactions · Geometric morphometrics · Farmed phenotype · Aquaculture escapes


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Cite this article as: Wringe BF, Fleming IA, Purchase CF (2015) Rapid morphological divergence of cultured cod of the northwest Atlantic from their source population. Aquacult Environ Interact 7:167-177. https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00145

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Published in AEI Vol. 7, No. 2. Online publication date: September 17, 2015
Print ISSN: 1869-215X; Online ISSN: 1869-7534
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