Abstract
Adult cod swim hundreds of kilometers away from home to release their eggs into the ocean water. After some days, tiny larvae hatch from the eggs. At first, the larvae have a small food reserve to sustain them during their first days of life. Soon after emptying the yolk-sac, the larvae must find food on their own. Both eggs and larvae are carried by the ocean currents and they experience large changes in conditions as they drift back to the nursery areas where their parents came from, where the larvae grow up to become adult fish. Our research on cod indicates that the number and location of cod larvae are associated with the size of the spawning adults; and that the number of larvae influences how many cod will grow to be recruits. So, it is important to also know the living conditions of the parents before they spawn, which will be important for the survival of their offspring.
Highlights
AGE: Adult cod swim hundreds of kilometers away from home to release their eggs into the ocean water
Good management of the cod population relies on research, which helps us gain knowledge about cod and their environment
There are many di erent cod populations, and they reside in various areas of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans
Summary
Figure (A) The life cycle of cod. (B) The location of the Barents Sea, where cod feed and grow to be adults, and the Norwegian Sea, where adult cod release their eggs (image credits: Adult cod photo: modified from Dr Bernd Ueberschär/fishbase.se; egg and larvae photo: modified from Terje van der Meeren/Institute of Marine Research, Norway).
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