The impact of grey seals on cod stocks has been a controversial topic for decades.
The marble slabs fronting each stall shimmer with glittery, glimmery, spangled fish – sardines, sea bass, cod, grey mullet, red mullet, scarlet and gold as a brocaded waistcoat.
This situation also applies to the case of the Baltic grey seals and cod prey; new knowledge of grey seal functional responses to prey species could therefore improve models of predator-prey interactions.
The results indicate that grey tank bottom colour is advantageous for cod larvae, and that microalgae addition may not be necessary beyond the first week of feeding.
We determined the effect of dietary arachidonic acid (20 4n − 6, ARA) and tank colour (green or grey) on the performance of larval Atlantic cod from 2 28 days post-hatch (dph) using a two-factor, fully orthogonal design.
Grey seals are compromising the recovery of cod stocks off the west coast of Scotland, research has suggested.
Our results suggest that climate change will have stronger impacts on the cod population than a recovering grey seal population (Figure 5).
Seal dietary composition is usually derived from remains of hard parts (bones, otoliths) in seal stomachs or feces; however, grey seals may also prey on larger sizes of cod by consuming only soft portions of cod carcasses ("belly-biting"; [48]).
But this is a coastline whose mystique goes way beyond cine-tourism; it's a place of looming purple mountains topped with snow and grey-tinged landscapes hiding Viking burial grounds, rugged cod fishing communities and legends of trolls.
But Sara Iverson, a researcher in physiological ecology at Dalhousie University, said cod madke up a very small part of the grey seal's diet.
Canada's multimillion dollar proposal to cull grey seals will not bring back the ravaged stocks of Atlantic cod it is intended to help, scientists have said.
