Muscle Protein Polymorphism of Sablefish from the Eastern Pacific Ocean

Abstract

Muscle proteins of 897 specimens of sablefish, collected during 1963–67 in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from Unalaska Island, Alaska, to Cape Blanco, Oregon, were analyzed by starch gel zone electrophoresis. Without exception, all specimens fitted into one of three phenotypic protein patterns resulting from two polymorphic proteins appearing singly or in pairs. Hereditary control by two codominant alleles, MuA and MuB, is postulated to explain the heterogeneity of the muscle protein patterns. Phenotypic distribution was shown to be independent of age and sex. The collection was arbitrarily divided into 10 areas, and the gene frequencies used as population parameters suggested homogeneity but did not provide positive evidence of heterogeneity in the sablefish inhabiting the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean. The implications of these results are discussed in the light of previously reported racial and tagging studies.