Uugaq • Arctic Cod

Arctic cod are believed to be one of the most abundant and widely distributed fish in the Arctic and are an integral part of sea ice ecosystems. When spring arrives in mid-April and early May, blooms of algae grow under sea ice as sunlight penetrates the melting ice. These organisms serve as the basis of the food web of sea ice ecosystems. Arctic cod feed on the copepods and amphipods that feed on the ice algae and each other. Because the cod are in turn eaten by many different kinds of fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, they are an important link between lower trophic levels and larger predators like narwhals, thick-billed murres, belugas, and ringed seals that occupy higher trophic levels.

Photo Credit: An Arctic cod takes shelter underneath pack ice by Shawn Harper, University of Alaska Fairbanks, (n.d.). https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/16arctic/background/fishes/fishes.html. Public Domain image.