Survival and divergence of Arctic endemic cod species during 50,000 years of climate change
Abstract
Despite significant climate variability in the Northern Hemisphere ~50,000–12,000 years ago, the potential for vertebrates to periodically thrive in the glacial Arctic Ocean has been largely overlooked because ecosystem productivity was assumed to be too low. Here, we analyze fish otoliths preserved in deep-sea sediments and find that two Arctic endemic cod species, ice cod ( Arctogadus glacialis ) and polar cod ( Boreogadus saida ), lived at 87–89 °N ~ 48,000–35,000 years ago and reappeared at the onset of the Holocene ~12,000 years ago. A. glacialis also occurred north of Greenland at 84–85 °N ~ 20,000 years ago, during the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum, suggesting the presence of refugia that enabled survival and divergence from B. saida under the harshest climate conditions. These findings suggest that the glacial Arctic Ocean was not a barren ice desert but rather a breeding ground for the evolution of cold adaptation in marine fish.
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BibTeX
@article{chawarski2026survival,
title = {{Survival and divergence of Arctic endemic cod species during 50,000 years of climate change}},
author = {Julek Chawarski and Flor Vermassen and Kim Vane and Hauke Flores and Jutta Wollenburg and Hendrik Grotheer and Claudia Morys and Nicole Hildebrandt and Helen K. Coxall and Pauline Snoeijs-Leijonmalm},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78810-4},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78810-4},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Survival and divergence of Arctic endemic cod species during 50,000 years of climate change
AU - Julek Chawarski
AU - Flor Vermassen
AU - Kim Vane
AU - Hauke Flores
AU - Jutta Wollenburg
AU - Hendrik Grotheer
AU - Claudia Morys
AU - Nicole Hildebrandt
AU - Helen K. Coxall
AU - Pauline Snoeijs-Leijonmalm
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78810-4
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78810-4
AB - Despite significant climate variability in the Northern Hemisphere ~50,000–12,000 years ago, the potential for vertebrates to periodically thrive in the glacial Arctic Ocean has been largely overlooked because ecosystem productivity was assumed to be too low. Here, we analyze fish otoliths preserved in deep-sea sediments and find that two Arctic endemic cod species, ice cod ( Arctogadus glacialis ) and polar cod ( Boreogadus saida ), lived at 87–89 °N ~ 48,000–35,000 years ago and reappeared at the onset of the Holocene ~12,000 years ago. A. glacialis also occurred north of Greenland at 84–85 °N ~ 20,000 years ago, during the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum, suggesting the presence of refugia that enabled survival and divergence from B. saida under the harshest climate conditions. These findings suggest that the glacial Arctic Ocean was not a barren ice desert but rather a breeding ground for the evolution of cold adaptation in marine fish.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -