Evolution of fast-growing piscivorous herring in the young Baltic Sea

The circumstances under which species diversify to genetically distinct lineages is a fundamental question in biology. Atlantic herring ( Clupea harengus ) is an extremely abundant zooplanktivorous species that is subdivided into multiple ecotypes that differ regarding spawning time and genetic adaption to local environmental conditions such as temperature, salinity, and light conditions. Here we show using whole genome analysis that multiple populations of piscivorous (fish-eating) herring have evolved sympatrically after the colonization of the brackish Baltic Sea within the last 8000 years postglaciation. The piscivorous ecotype grows faster, and is much larger and less abundant than the zooplanktivorous Baltic herring. Lesions of the gill rakers in the piscivorous ecotype indicated incomplete adaptation to a fish diet. This niche expansion of herring in the young Baltic Sea, with its paucity of piscivorous species, suggests that empty niche space is more important than geographic isolation for the evolution of biodiversity. The Atlantic herring is one of the world’s most abundant vertebrates and a typical plankton feeder of major ecological importance. This study shows that a piscivorous (fish-eating) ecotype of herring has evolved after the colonization of the brackish Baltic Sea within the last 8,000 years.