Genetic Characterization of Red Hind, Epinephelus guttatus, Collected from Three Spawning Aggregations in Western Puerto Rican Waters - Variation in Allozymes

Red hind (Epinephelus guttatus) is a heavily exploited reef fish which form short-term spawning aggregations beginning in January in western Puerto Rican waters. Reproductively active individuals were collected from three aggregations and examined for variation in genetic characteristics using horizontal starch-gel electrophoretic techniques. Eighteen putative loci were found to be informative. A fixation value (F sub(ST)) of 0.022 was estimated, indicative of minimal population subdivision. Estimates of Nei's unbiased genetic distance (Nei 1978)suggested red hind are nearly identical genetically within this limited grouping of aggregations. These results suggest red hind spawning aggregations, at least within the context of the sampled groupings, may not represent biologically significant genetic subdivisions.