Geographic Differentiation of Eastern Australian Penaeid Prawn Populations

The geographic differentiation of Metapenaeus bennettue. M. macleuyi and Penueus plebejus has been examined by electrophoretic techniques. Differences between localities were detected in M. bennettae and M. macleayi. but not in P.plebejus. The observations for M. bennettae and P. plebejus are consistent with what has previously been revealed by ecological investigations. Despite the existence of detectable genetic heterogeneity in M. bennettae and M. macleayi, the differences in gene frequency are in almost all cases of a minor order, and the overall degree of divergence between populations is quite small. The comparative measures of geographic differentiation for the three species M. bennettae. M. macleuyi and P. plebejus are Φ* = 0.051. 0.014, and 0.007 respectively.