STOCK COMPOSITION AND MOVEMENT OF GEMFISH, REXEA-SOLANDRI, AS INDICATED BY PARASITES

The parasite fauna of gemfish, Rexea solandri, from seven areas off so uthern Australia, was examined for evidence of isolated gemfish popula tions. Canonical multivariate analyses of data on larval nematodes (An isakis spp. and Terranova sp.), cestode plerocercoids (Hepatoxylon tri chiuri and Nybelinia sp.), acanthocephalans (Rhadinorhynchus sp. and C orynosoma sp.), and a hemiuroid digenean from a total of 763 gemfish s howed that the parasite faunas of fish from eastern Australia were sim ilar except for a sample taken off New South Wales at the end of the s pawning season whose affinities are unknown. Fish from South Australia had similar parasite faunas to those collected from eastern Australia , suggesting that fish from the eastern and western Bass Strait belong to the same stock. Fish collected from the Great Australian Eight wer e distinct from the southern and eastern fish. Differences in parasite fauna were detected between samples taken within the spawning season and those taken from the same locations outside the spawning season, p resumably a result of the spawning migration.