BIOCHEMICAL GENETICS AND SPECIES RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE GENUS HALIOTIS (GASTROPODA: HALIOTIDAE)

The marine gastropod genus Haliotis includes 60–70 describedspecies distributed along the coastlines of most continentsand of islands in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Theyoccur in tropical and temperate regions of both hemispheres.Protein gel electrophoresis revealed genetic relationships amongseventeen temperate species; Haliotis rubra, H. conicopora,H. laevigata, H. roei, H. scalaris, H. cyclobates, H. coccoradiata,H. midae, H. iris, H, austrails, H. virginea, H. discus hannai,H. kamtschaktkana, H. rufescens, H. corrugata, H. cracherodii,and H. fulgens. Northern temperate species clustered together, but northernand southern species shared so few allelic states that theycould not be united on a single genetic distance diagram. Nordid all the southern temperate species form a single cluster.In addition, genetic characters do not support previous sub-genericdivisions within Haliotis. The observed genetic distances betweensome species were found to be large, and in some cases larger,than those normally associated with species in the same genus.These relationships provide insight into the evolutionary historyand biogcography of the group and emphasize the need for taxonomicreview based on both morphological and genetic information. (Received 8 September 1992; accepted 1 February 1993)