Biochemical separation of Atlantic Canadian redfish: Sebastes mentella and Sebastes norvegicus

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Authors: Trottier, Bertin L., Rubec, Peter J., Ricard, Anne C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1989
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Greenland; Norway; golden redfish; Sebastes mentella; Sebastes norvegicus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z89-189; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z89-189

One of the problems for management of the redfish fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is the difficulty in distinguishing between the different species: deepwater redfish (Sebastes mentella), golden redfish (Sebastes norvegicus), and Acadian redfish (Sebastes fasciatus). Controversy exists concerning whether S. mentella and S. norvegicus are separate species because of similarity of meristic characters and other attributes. We describe a procedure that distinguishes these two forms by isoelectric focusing using polyacrylamide gels of water-soluble muscle proteins. In our samples, the lower part of the gel of S. mentella consistently shows three major protein bands, while that of S. norvegicus shows only one major band. The isoelectric focusing banding patterns from our study agree with those found by other workers for redfish from Greenland and Norway. The unequivocal isoelectric focusing separation and its concordance with morphometric characters indicate that S. mentella and S. norvegicus are genetically distinct, reproductively isolated species.