A 500-million-year-old clawed predator rewrites the origin of spiders and horseshoe crabs

Harvard University

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Holotype specimen (part and counterpart) showing Megachelicerax cousteaui spectacular pincer-like chelicerae.

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Credit: Credit: Rudy Lerosey-Aubril

It had been a long day of teaching for Rudy Lerosey-Aubril. As a reward, he returned to cleaning an intriguing Cambrian arthropod fossil he had recently received for review. At first, the specimen showed all the expected characteristics of its time – yet, something was off. In place of an antenna, there appeared to be a claw.

“Claws are never in that location in a Cambrian arthropod,” said Lerosey-Aubril, “It took me a few minutes to realize the obvious, I had just exposed the oldest chelicera ever found.”

In a study published in Nature, Research Scientist Rudy Lerosey-Aubril and Associate Professor Javier Ortega-Hernández, Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology – both in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard – describe Megachelicerax cousteaui, a 500-million-year-old sea predator discovered in Utah’s West Desert. It is the oldest known chelicerate, the arthropod group that includes spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The discovery pushes the evolutionary history of chelicerates back by 20 million years.

“This fossil documents the Cambrian origin of chelicerates,” noted Lerosey-Aubril, “and shows that the anatomical blueprint of spiders and horseshoe crabs was already emerging 500 million years ago.”

Lerosey-Aubril spent more than 50 hours carefully cleaning the fossil under a microscope using a fine needle to reveal its shocking anatomy. At slightly over 8 centimeters long, M. cousteaui preserves a dorsal exoskeleton consisting of a head shield and nine body segments. These two regions feature distinct appendages: six pairs of limbs specialized for feeding and sensing in the head shield, and plate-like respiratory structures beneath the body that resemble the book gills of modern horseshoe crabs.

Its most extraordinary feature, however, is its unmistakable chelicera — the pincer-like feeding appendages that define the subphylum Chelicerata and distinguish spiders from insects. While insects possess sensory antenna as their foremost appendages, chelicerates have grasping, often venomous tools. Despite a rich Cambrian fossil record, no unambiguous chelicera-bearing arthropod from that time had ever been found – until now.

Prior to this discovery, the oldest known chelicerates dated to the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota of Morocco, roughly 480 million years ago. The existence of M. cousteaui 20 million years earlier places it as an early offshoot of the chelicerate family tree, a key transitional species bridging Cambrian arthropods that appear to lack chelicera with the much younger horseshoe crab-like chelicerates known as synziphosurines.

“Megachelicerax shows that chelicera and the division of the body into two functionally specialized regions evolved before the head appendages lost their outer branches and became like the legs of spiders today,” explained Ortega-Hernández, “it reconciles several competing hypotheses; in a way, everybody was partly right.”

The fossil captures a crucial stage in the assembly of the chelicerate body plan, revealing that key elements had already evolved during the immediate aftermath of the Cambrian Explosion – a period of extraordinarily rapid evolutionary innovation.

“This tells us that by the mid-Cambrian, when evolutionary rates were remarkably high, the oceans were already inhabited by arthropods with anatomical complexity rivaling modern forms,” Ortega-Hernández added.

Intriguingly, the early acquisition of this complex anatomy did not immediately lead to ecological dominance or diversification. Instead, chelicerates remained relatively inconspicuous for millions of years, overshadowed by seemingly simpler groups such as trilobites, before successfully colonizing land.

“A similar evolutionary pattern has been documented in other animal groups,” said Lerosey-Aubril. “This shows that evolutionary success is not only about biological innovation — timing and environmental context matter.”

M. cousteaui was collected in the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation of Utah’s House Range. The fossil was discovered by renowned avocational fossil collector, Lloyd Gunther, and donated to the Kansas University Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum in 1981 for further study. It was among a collection of seemingly unremarkable fossils from Utah that Lerosey-Aubril offered to investigate as part of his research on early arthropods.

Megachelicerax cousteaui is named in honor of French explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Lerosey-Aubril – who is also French – and Ortega-Hernández chose Cousteau for his work raising awareness of the beauty and vulnerability of the undersea.

“Cousteau and his crew inspired generations to look beneath the surface,” said Lerosey-Aubril, “it seemed fitting to name this ancient marine animal after someone who changed the way we see ocean life.” Just as Megachelicerax cousteaui has changed how we view chelicerates.

Today, chelicerates include more than 120,000 living species — from spiders and scorpions to mites, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders – inhabiting both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

“For thousands of years, these animals have quietly existed among us, deeply influencing our lives from pop-culture to medical and agricultural contributions,” Ortega-Hernández concluded. “This fossil discovery sheds new light on their origins.”

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the vital role of scientific collections, such as those of the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, and the dedication of the professionals who curate them – especially B. Lieberman and J. Kimmig – preserving specimens for decades until new questions, and new eyes, reveal their full significance.

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The surprisingly complex anatomy of the Cambrian chelicerate Megachelicerax cousteaui.

Credit

Artistic reconstruction by Masato Hattori (© Harvard University)

 

Modern Day Spider with Megachelicerax cousteaui 

Credit

Rudy Lerosey-Aubril

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-026-10284-2 

Method of Research

Observational study

Article Title

A chelicera-bearing arthropod reveals the Cambrian origin of chelicerates

Article Publication Date

1-Apr-2026

Advertising payments to news websites that publish health misinformation

JAMA Network Open

About The Study: 

From 2021 to 2024, government and health organizations accounted for about one-tenth of the $336 million in estimated advertising payments made to 11 news websites identified for publishing health misinformation. Noteworthy advertisers included federal health agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer, although their individual contributions represented a small share of all payments.

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Joseph S. Ross, MD, MHS, email joseph.ross@yale.edu.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.5068)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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JAMA Network Open

 

NIH researchers discover pain-relieving drug with minimal addictive properties

Positive safety profile of novel drug compound is surprise for class of synthetic opioids shelved years ago

NIH/Office of the Director

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified a novel, highly potent opioid that shows potential as a therapy for both pain and opioid use disorder. In a study published in Nature, the team observed the new drug’s effect in laboratory animals. They showed that it has high pain-relieving effects without causing respiratory depression, tolerance or other indicators of potential for addiction in humans.

 

“Opioid pain medications are essential for medical purposes, but can lead to addiction and overdose,” said Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). “Developing a highly effective pain medication without these drawbacks would have enormous public health benefits.”

 

The team investigated formulations of an understudied class of synthetic opioid compounds, known as nitazenes. Nitazenes selectively engage mu-opioid receptors, primary targets for opioid drugs in the brain and peripheral nervous system. However, nitazenes had been shelved in the 1950s due to their excessive potency. The scientific team revisited this class of compounds with a focus on harnessing their selectivity for the mu opioid receptor and engineering new nitazenes with a safer pharmacological profile.

 

“Our goal was to study the profile, or pharmacology, of these drugs,” said Michael Michaelides, Ph.D., senior author and NIDA investigator. “We wanted to decrease the potency and create a potential therapeutic. What we discovered exceeded our expectations.”

 

The team focused initially on a chemical formulation called FNZ that could be administered to rats and tagged with a radioisotope for positron emission tomography (PET). PET imaging enables tracking of the drug in real time throughout the rat brain. The team discovered that FNZ entered the brain only briefly, for approximately five to 10 minutes. Yet pain relief, known as analgesia, persisted for at least two hours. Knowing that nitazenes can have active metabolites, or by-products, the team investigated whether an FNZ metabolite might be responsible for the prolonged effect. That investigation revealed DFNZ, another opioid dubbed a “superagonist” for its extremely high efficacy at the mu opioid receptor.

 

Whereas FNZ carries serious risks, including depressed breathing and high potential for addiction, DFNZ appears to sidestep these liabilities.

 

At preclinical therapeutic doses, DFNZ produced a moderate and sustained increase in brain oxygen rather than depressing respiration. Repeated doses of the drug did not result in tolerance, drug dependency, or meaningful withdrawal effects. Among 14 classic opioid withdrawal symptoms, the researchers only observed irritability, as measured by vocalization, when handling DFNZ-treated rats.

 

To test the drug’s rewarding effects, an important component of their addictive potential, the team studied its effects in rats who had been trained to press a lever for a dose of the pain-relieving drug. They found that animals readily self-administered DFNZ, indicating that it does produce some rewarding effect. However, when the drug was replaced with saline, animals stopped the drug-seeking behavior. The immediate behavior change is in contrast with what researchers see with other opioids such as heroin, morphine, and fentanyl. In those cases, animals typically persist in seeking the drug even after it is removed.

 

Further investigation revealed a likely neurochemical explanation. While DFNZ increases slow-acting dopamine release in the brain's reward circuitry, it does not trigger the rapid dopamine bursts associated with the formation of strong drug-cue associations, the conditioned responses that drive craving and relapse in addiction.

 

“DFNZ has an unprecedented pharmacology for an opioid,” Michaelides said. “It is a potent and high-efficacy analgesic, but in certain contexts it resembles partial agonists, drugs that activate the receptor with low efficacy, which is what scientists think is needed for safety. Its capacity to be administered at therapeutic doses without producing respiratory depression is very important."

 

The teams’ findings challenge the prevailing view that high-efficacy mu-opioid receptor drugs are unsuitable for development as safe analgesics. In fact, the authors of the paper maintain that DFNZ should be explored for use in treatment for opioid use disorder and may be preferable to current opioid agonist medications, which have an associated risk of causing respiratory depression.

 

The research team will pursue additional preclinical studies to support an application for regulatory approval to conduct studies of DFNZ in humans. They believe several patient populations may benefit from DFNZ, including those in surgical settings and with cancer-related or chronic pain who have a particularly high need for effective pain treatment.

 

This research was supported in part by the NIH Intramural Research Program and by NIH/NIDA grant DA056354.

 

About the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance addiction science. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit www.nida.nih.gov.
 

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

 

Reference: Michaelides M., Rice K., Skiniotis G., et al. A μ opioid receptor superagonist analgesic with minimal adverse effects. Nature. 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10299-9.

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-026-10299-9 

Article Title

A μ opioid receptor superagonist analgesic with minimal adverse effects

Article Publication Date

1-Apr-2026

 

One of cholera’s great enemies is found in the human gut

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

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Cholera-causing bacteria are locked in an evolutionary arms race with a viral nemesis, according to a new genomic study.

Experts at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), and their collaborators, found that in the Ganges Delta, cholera bacteria rapidly gain and lose special armour that protects against attacks from the virus, known as bacteriophage ICP1.

The new research, published today (1 April) in Nature, highlighted that maintaining these anti-viral defences leads to lower disease severity of cholera in humans and reduced ability to spread outside the country for this bacterial strain.

By looking at the ecology of cholera in South Asia, this study challenges the long-held belief that the Ganges Delta is the global source of cholera. Knowing more about the strains and the factors that influence the spread of cholera bacteria in different regions could help provide an early warning system, identifying high-risk strains before they escalate and allowing for early intervention.

It could also help develop new treatments, for example, research into whether the virus could be harnessed to help stop cholera in the future.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection, which can be fatal within hours if untreated. It is caused by the bacterium, Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae), which spreads through contaminated food and water1. Globally, we are in the seventh cholera pandemic, which started in 1961, with an estimated 1.3 to 4 million cases and up to 143,000 deaths per year from the condition worldwide1. It has been shown that the seventh pandemic is caused by V. cholerae strain 7PET O1, originating from the Bay of Bengal, which borders Bangladesh and India, and it was thought that the Ganges Delta was the global source of cholera.   

This new research sequenced bacterial samples from across Bangladesh and North India, creating the most comprehensive dataset of cholera in this area to date, containing over 2,300 genomes collected across approximately 20 years. They found that it was the Ganges Basin, not the Ganges Delta, that was the primary global source of cholera in that time.

By tracking the bacterial spread, they also uncovered that the bacteria do not simply follow the flow of rivers. Instead, they tend to stay within national borders, suggesting that human travel and population density are more important for cholera transmission than the natural environment.

They also found V. cholerae in Bangladesh, strain 7PET O1, rapidly gain and lose genetic elements known as defence systems, which act like armour helping them survive against their viral nemesis, the bacteriophage ICP1. Bacteriophages, also known as phages, are natural viruses that attack bacteria. They need bacteria to replicate, are generally not harmful to human cells, can rapidly kill their bacterial host, and are often found in the human gut microbiome.

By analysing cholera data in South Asia spanning 20 years, the team found evidence that the bacteria are constantly fighting off attacks from ICP1 using different armour or shields. In turn, the study shows that the ICP1 virus develops its own ‘anti-defence’ weapons to hack through those shields and continue its attack. While it has been shown previously that the presence of ICP1 in the gut is linked with less severe disease2, as the virus kills off the disease-causing bacteria2, this study shows that there is an evolutionary arms race in Bangladesh between the bacteria and ICP1, with each species developing new ways to defeat the other. This compromises the bacteria's ability to spread out of the country, limiting its ability to spread globally.

In the future, it may be possible to use our understanding of this arms race to develop new treatments or control strategies for cholera.

The study suggests that a better understanding of the natural ecology of this important disease could lead to early warning systems, highlighting V. cholerae bacteria that have lost new types of defensive shields and are more likely to cause severe disease and spread globally to cause epidemics. By identifying these high-risk strains before they spread, authorities could update treatment recommendations, deploy vaccines and improve water sanitation in specific areas to prevent local outbreaks from turning into global pandemics. Overall, by taking an ecological view of the global source of cholera, it is possible to stop the spread of these disease-causing bacteria to other parts of the world.

Dr Amber Barton, co-first author at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “Our research uncovered the evolutionary struggle between cholera bacteria in Bangladesh, and the bacteriophage that preys on them. Specifically, the discovery of rapid loss and gain of V. cholerae’s protective defences and their impact on disease severity is key to understanding the factors involved in the spread of this bacterium. Without the defences, the bacteria are more dangerous to humans, and tracking this in real time, through genomics, can help us identify when the strains pose the highest risk and intervene early. Additionally, future research into cholera and microbiome interactions in other regions of the world could reveal other phages that prey on the bacteria, which may help develop new treatments in the future.”

Dr Firdausi Qadri, co-senior author at the icddr,b in Bangladesh, said: “By creating the most comprehensive genetic database of cholera bacteria samples across Bangladesh and North India, our study has shown that our understanding of the global source of cholera needs updating and refinement to consider a region that spans Bangladesh and India. We can also see that cholera spread does not follow the rivers and waterways. This suggests that, despite cholera being a water-borne pathogen, the role of human travel and population density are bigger factors in cholera transmission than the surrounding environment. Understanding this can help inform public health interventions to help stop the spread of infections.”

Professor Nick Thomson, co-senior author at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “The world is in its seventh global pandemic of cholera, with the bacteria evolving and adapting to treatments and the world around it. By taking an ecological view of cholera across whole regions of the world using genomics, we have been able to dispel previous inaccuracies about the global spread of the pandemic and provide a clearer picture of the factors and threats these bacteria face. This can help inform public health strategies and future treatments to hopefully end this pandemic and protect the many thousands of people impacted.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. Cholera. World Health Organization. Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cholera [accessed March 2026]
2. N. Madi, et al. (2024) 'Phage predation, disease severity, and pathogen genetic diversity in cholera patients.' Science. DOI:10.1126/science.adj3166

Publication:

A. Barton, M. H. Afrad, A. Taylor-Brown, et al. (2026) ‘Evolution of Pandemic Cholera at its Global Source’. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10340-x

Funding:

This research was part-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome.

Selected websites:

The Wellcome Sanger Institute

The Wellcome Sanger Institute is a world leader in genomics research. We apply and explore genomic technologies at scale to advance understanding of biology and improve health. Making discoveries not easily made elsewhere, our research delivers insights across health, disease, evolution and pathogen biology. We are open and collaborative; our data, results, tools, technologies and training are freely shared across the globe to advance science.

Funded by Wellcome, we have the freedom to think long-term and push the boundaries of genomics. We take on the challenges of applying our research to the real world, where we aim to bring benefit to people and society.

Find out more at www.sanger.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and on our Blog.

About Wellcome

Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we’re taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health. https://wellcome.org/

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-026-10340-x 

Article Title

Evolution of Pandemic Cholera at its Global Source

Article Publication Date

1-Apr-2026

 

Lakes forming next to Greenland’s melting ice sheet are speeding up glacier flow 

University of Leeds

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Images available here  

A growing network of meltwater lakes at the edge of the Greenland ice sheet is accelerating the flow of major glaciers, potentially increasing the pace of global sea‑level rise. 

Warmer air and sea temperatures have led to the loss of around 264 gigatons of ice every year in Greenland since 2002 causing sea levels to rise by 0.8 millimeters annually. But a new study by the University of Leeds examining glacier behaviour across the entire ice sheet has highlighted a lesser‑known feature that is amplifying this mass loss - the freshwater lakes forming as the ice retreats. 

These ice-marginal lakes (or IMLs) sit right up against the edge of the ice and appear as glaciers pull back and expose deep, bowl‑shaped hollows in the landscape. Meltwater quickly pools in these basins to form lakes as large as 117 km2 in area.   

The study which is published today (1 April) in the journal Communications Earth and Environment shows that far from being passive features of the landscape, the lakes can destabilise the glaciers that feed into them, triggering movement, increasing thinning, and heightening ice loss. 

The researchers examined satellite data, using maps of ice-marginal lakes across Greenland and the flow at the ice sheet surface. They found that the speed of glaciers ending in lakes was over three times faster at their fronts than those glaciers ending on land. Crucially, that acceleration wasn’t confined to the glacier edge, with the effect being detected up to 3.5 km inland. 

Lead author of the study Connie Harpur, a post-graduate researcher in Leeds’ School of Geography, said: “Our findings are significant because glacier speed plays a major role in how quickly ice is lost from the Greenland Ice Sheet. When glaciers flow faster, they deliver more ice to lower elevations, where it can melt, or to their fronts, where it can break away.  

“By showing that lakes at the ice margin can substantially speed up glaciers, we identify an important process that needs to be included in predictions of future ice loss.” 

Around 10% of Greenland’s ice edge is currently bordered by freshwater lakes with that figure expected to rise sharply as the climate warms and more depressions are exposed during ice retreat.  

Much like glaciers that flow into the ocean, those ending in lakes can experience a form of flotation, where the water partly lifts the glacier front, increasing melting under the ice. This makes it easier for large slabs of ice to break off in a process known as calving and reduces the friction that usually slows the glacier’s flow. 

Earlier observations from mountain ranges such as the Himalayas have shown that glaciers terminating in lakes can move twice as fast as nearby glaciers ending on land. But until now, scientists had only limited evidence of how widespread these effects might be in Greenland. 

The Leeds researchers warn that this omission could be significant. Ice dynamics (the ways in which glaciers speed up, slow down, and deform) are expected to be the main driver of Greenland’s ice loss in the coming decades and with lake formation accelerating alongside climate warming, the study’s authors argue that models urgently need to account for the role of IMLs. 

Co-author of the study Professor Mark Smith added: “If we do not account for lake effects, we may underestimate how dynamically parts of the ice sheet respond to future warming, and in turn how much Greenland will contribute to future sea level rise. 

“Understanding ice-marginal lakes’ influence on glacier flow is crucial for accurate projections.” 

Ends 

Further information 

Images available here 

Image captions: 

An ice-marginal lake in southwest Greenland. Photo- Connie Harpur. 

Two outlet glaciers draining into ice-marginal lakes, seen in Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite imagery (August 2025, processed by Connie Harpur).  

Ice-marginal proglacial lakes enhance outlet glacier velocities across Greenland is published in Communications Earth and Environment. The DOI is 10.1038/s43247-026-03363-9 

The research is funded by a NERC Doctoral Training Partnership 

For media enquiries, please contact Kersti Mitchell via k.mitchell@leeds.ac.uk 

University of Leeds  

The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK, with more than 40,000 students from about 140 different countries. We are renowned globally for the quality of our teaching and research.  

We are a values-driven university, and we harness our expertise in research and education to help shape a better future for humanity, working through collaboration to tackle inequalities, achieve societal impact and drive change.  The University is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, and is a major partner in the Alan Turing, Rosalind Franklin and Royce Institutes www.leeds.ac.uk   

Follow University of Leeds or tag us in to coverage: Bluesky | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram 

 

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Journal

Communications Earth & Environment

DOI

10.1038/s43247-026-03363-9 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Ice-marginal proglacial lakes enhance outlet glacier velocities across Greenland

Article Publication Date

1-Apr-2026

 

Aquaculture is shifting toward less sustainable species: new UBC study

While aquaculture has grown rapidly to meet global seafood demand, it is increasingly relying on species that are less beneficial for food security, climate mitigation, and biodiversity, said a new study from researchers at UBC

University of British Columbia

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Integrated seaweed and abalone farm in Xiamen, China

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Credit: William Cheung/IOF

Aquaculture is shifting toward less sustainable species: new UBC study

While aquaculture has grown rapidly to meet global seafood demand, it is increasingly relying on species that are less beneficial for food security, climate mitigation, and biodiversity, said a new study from researchers at the University of British Columbia.

The study, published in Fish and Fisheries, analyzed global aquaculture production from 1950 to 2023 and found that, since the 1980s, the industry has shifted toward a smaller number of intensively farmed species—particularly finfish—that tend to have lower overall sustainability potential.

“Aquaculture has enormous potential to support global food systems and environmental goals, but our findings show that current production trends are moving us in the wrong direction,” said Dr. William Cheung, professor and Director of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF), and senior author of the study. “We’re seeing a growing mismatch between what we produce and what would best support climate, biodiversity, and food security outcomes.”

The research used a traits-based approach to evaluate how different species contribute to three key areas: food provision, climate impact, and biodiversity. It found that earlier aquaculture systems—dominated by species such as seaweed and shellfish—had higher sustainability potential compared to modern systems focused on fed species like salmon and shrimp.

The study developed indices that measured how aquaculture production contributes to food, climate, and biodiversity goals, along the UN Sustainable Goals agenda. They noted that China, for example, accounted for 56 per cent of global aquaculture production in 2022, yet its production mix showed declines across all three indices between the 1976–1980 baseline and 2019–2023: −14.1 per cent for food, −21.6 per cent for climate, and −12.9 per cent for biodiversity. In the Americas, the food index increased only marginally (+0.8 per cent), while the climate and biodiversity indices declined by 11.4 per cent and 9.1 per cent, respectively.

“Salmon aquaculture is currently the fastest-growing food sector in the world however, it is strongly affected by warming waters and deoxygenation, and is a species that has lower FCB potential,” said Aleah Wong, lead author and PhD candidate in the IOF. “Not all aquaculture species are equal. Some, like bivalves and seaweed, can deliver significant environmental benefits, while others come with higher trade-offs,” she said. “Currently, many of the most beneficial species are under-represented in global production.”

“Food security is shaped by factors like production efficiency and species’ nutrient density, but also by complex dynamics between producers, consumers, markets and regulatory bodies that affect food security indirectly through impacts on food availability, access, trade, income and equity,” said Dr. Cheung. “Many regions already farm species with high sustainability potential. By scaling up these species and diversifying production, aquaculture can better contribute to global sustainability targets.”

The researchers point to expanding the production of low-impact species—such as bivalves and seaweed—as a key pathway forward. However, they note that market demand, policy frameworks, and consumer preferences will play a critical role in enabling this transition.

“Shifting toward more sustainable aquaculture would require coordinated international action,” said Wong. “Better policies, investment in innovation, and changes in what consumers are willing to eat need to be made.”

The study underscored that the future of aquaculture depends not only on how much is produced, but on what is produced—and how those choices align with global environmental and food system goals.

“Shifting Trends in Aquaculture's Biological Potential to Address Food, Climate and Biodiversity Challenges” was published in Fish and Fisheries.

 

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Journal

Fish and Fisheries

DOI

10.1111/faf.70081 

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Shifting Trends in Aquaculture's Biological Potential to Address Food, Climate and Biodiversity Challenges

Article Publication Date

25-Mar-2026

COI Statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.