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Between weight and they, is a relative adverb omitted? The sentence structure eludes me.

Evolution works to maximize the number of descendants that an animal leaves behind. Where the risk of death from fishing increases as an animal grows, evolution favors those that grow slowly, mature younger and smaller, and reproduce earlier. This is exactly what we now see in the wild. Cod in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence begin to reproduce at around four today; forty years ago they had to wait until six or seven to reach maturity. Sole in the North Sea mature at half the body weight they did in 1950.

The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea

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You could put a subordinator "that" in there.

Sole in the North Sea mature at half the body weight that they did in 1950.

The omission of "that" is allowed, and the sentence reads better without it.

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  • +1 for adding that, but I disagree that the sentence reads better without it. In my opinion, that can be omitted in spoken English, but it's just laziness to omit it in written English.
    – JavaLatte
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 1:59

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