Serum Transferrin Systems and the Hemoglobins of the Pacific Halibut ( Hippoglossus stenolepis )

• Published in: Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
• Main Authors: Tsuyuki, H., Roberts, E., Best, E. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1969
• Subjects: General Medicine; Bering Sea; Pacific; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f69-229; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f69-229

Based on starch-gel electrophoretic analyses of serum proteins of 1092 specimens of Pacific halibut sampled from the eastern Bering Sea and northeastern Pacific Ocean southward to southern British Columbia, three molecular species of transferrins were encountered. A fourth rare type was postulated to explain the observation of some phenotypes involving this transferrin. These transferrins, either singly or in combinations of two, accounted for the theoretically possible 10 phenotypes of which 8 were actually observed. Hereditary control by four codominant alleles (Tf A , Tf B , Tf C , and Tf D ) is postulated to explain the heterogeneity of the transferrin patterns. The collections were arbitrarily divided into 10 geographic areas and gene frequency analyses were used to determine population structure. Phenotypic distribution was shown to be independent of age and sex. Of the 10 areas, only the collection from southeastern Alaska proved not to be homogeneous. Preliminary analysis of blood hemoglobins indicated that these proteins are not of value in population analyses.