Allozyme electrophoretic studies in four species of groupers (Pisces: Serranidae) represented in the commercial fishery of Visakhapatnam - India

Abstract

365-371Several species of groupers belonging to the genus Epinephelus have overlapping colour patterns. In the present study four species of groupers, Epinephelus epistictus, E. latifasciatus, E. magniscuttis and E. radiatus, that are represented in the catches of Visakhapatnam were analysed for allozyme variation. The eleven enzyme systems screened twenty-five scorable loci. Sixteen loci in E. episticuts, nineteen in E. latifasciatus, fifteen in E. magniscuttis and twenty-two loci in E. radiatus were found to be polymorphic at p = 0.95 level. Average heterozygosity ranged form 0.0582±0.063 to 0.0704±0.0442. Diagnostic alleles that help in clearly distinguishing the species were identified. UPGMA dendrogram revealed that E. epistictus is closely related to E. magniscuttis compared to other two species