The Baltic is a semi-enclosed sea characterised by decreasing salinity in the eastern and northern direction with only the deeper parts of the southern Baltic suitable as spawning grounds for marine species like cod. Baltic cod exhibits various adaptations to brackish water conditions, yet the inflow of salty North Sea water near the bottom remains an influence on the spawning success of the Baltic cod. The eastern Baltic population has been very weakly studied in comparison with the western population. The aim of this study is to demonstrate for the first time genetic differentiation by the use of a large number of SNPs between eastern and western Baltic populations existing in differentiated salinity conditions. Two cod samples were collected from the Bay of Gdańsk, Poland and one from the Kiel Bight, Germany. Samples were genotyped using a cod derived SNP-array (Illumina) with 10 913 SNPs. A selection of diagnostic SNPs was performed. A set of 7944 validated SNPs were analysed to assess the differentiation of three samples of cod. Results indicated a clear distinctness of the Kiel Bight from the populations of the eastern Baltic. FST comparison between both eastern samples was non-significant. Clustering analysis, principal coordinates analysis and assignment test clearly indicated that the eastern samples should be considered as one subpopulation, well differentiated from the western subpopulation. With the SNP approach, no differentiation between groups containing 'healthy' and 'non-healthy' cod individuals was observed.

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Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is one of the most important fish species in northern Europe for several reasons including its predator status in marine ecosystems, its historical role in fisheries, its potential in aquaculture and its strong public profile. However, due to over-exploitation in the North Atlantic and changes in the ecosystem, many cod populations have been reduced in size and genetic diversity. Cod populations in the Baltic Proper, Kattegat and North Sea have been analyzed using a species specific single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Using a subset of 8,706 SNPs, moderate genetic differences were found between subdivisions in three traditionally delineated cod management stocks: Kattegat, western and eastern Baltic. However, an F St measure of population differentiation based on allele frequencies from 588 outlier loci for 2 population groups, one including 5 western and the other 4 eastern Baltic populations, indicated high genetic differentiation. In this paper, differentiation has been demonstrated not only between, but also within western and eastern Baltic cod stocks for the first time, with salinity appearing to be the most important environmental factor influencing the maintenance of cod population divergence between the western and eastern Baltic Sea. Sustainable exploitation of living marine resources by fishery, aquaculture and biotechnology, and monitoring and predicting the effects of climate changes require an understanding of taxonomy and population biology. Populations are sustainably exploited if the removal of individuals does not reduce the ability of a population to reproduce and maintain its phenotypic and genetic diversity. Such populations have been defined for conservation purposes as "evolutionary significant units" 1 , and traditionally have been defined using genetic methods such as analyses of allozymes, nuclear DNA loci, microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA 2 and knowledge of fish biology and morphology 3. The management units are defined for reporting on stock assessment and catches by different countries. The issue of inconsistency between existing management units and population biology and

-The genetic structure of a fish population is usually thought to be stable over time. In the southern Baltic, Salmo trutta m. trutta (sea trout) populations have been characterized by low degree of genetic differentiation. All studied populations had been heavily stocked with mixed material for many years prior to the sampling period, including releases of Pomeranian sea trout to the Vistula River in Poland, Southern Baltic. However, the strategy of stocking became river based a few years before the sampling began. Juveniles from artificial reproduction are released only to their parental river, which reduces the mixing of the gene pool of fish from different populations. Changes in sea trout populations in the southern Baltic over time were studied using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Genetic composition of populations of sea trout in the Vistula and Drwȩca river system were found to increasingly resemble the non-admixed hatchery population from Aquamar (Miastko, Poland), whereas the Pomeranian populations were stable. The implementation of a new stocking strategy for the restoration and protection of Vistula sea trout was noted as possible explanation. With the increase of natural breeding, artificial enhancement of sea trout populations should be reduced.

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