---
title: "The Genes Have Spoken: UMD Researchers Turn to AI to Decode Stress in Fish"
date: 2026-05-05T00:00:00-04:00
author: Ella LaGrange
canonical_url: "https://forward.umd.edu/news/the-genes-have-spoken-umd-researchers-turn-to-ai-to-decode-stress-in-fish"
section: News
---
# The Genes Have Spoken: UMD Researchers Turn to AI to Decode Stress in Fish

*May 5, 2026* — by Ella LaGrange
> Mohamed Salem, Youssef Ali, and Guglielmo Raymo Have Found a Simple Genetic Marker to Detect Stress in Fish.

<span>Mohamed Salem and his team spend their days looking for subtle signs of stress in animals that cannot communicate when something is wrong. They can’t talk, but they can get stressed out by things like heat, low oxygen, over-crowding, and improper diet. All of which can reduce their growth and make them more susceptible to disease. Salem’s subjects are fish, and the University of Maryland professor of animal and avian science has discovered an easy way to measure their stress levels with genomics, because a happy fish is a healthy fish.</span>

- [Read About the Work of Mohamed Salem and His Team](https://agnr.umd.edu/news/genes-have-spoken-umd-researchers-turn-ai-decode-stress-fish/)