Capelin

Our lab has begun to conduct research on capelin populations in Newfoundland. This research is primarily focused on improving understanding about capelin population dynamics. Thus far, we have found that trends in capelin consumption by predators somewhat align with acoustic survey estimates of capelin population size, indicating that predators may provide useful information about changes in capelin's population. We have also identified that changes in capelin population size seem to coincide with changes in Atlantic cod body condition, indicating that when there are few capelin, cod are at greater risk of starvation mortality.