Abstract
The bairdiella, Bairdiella icistius (Jordan and Gilbert), in the Salton <br /><br />Sea are the progeny of a successful introduction made in the 1950's. They form <br /><br />a central link in a productive and heavily utilized sportfishery. Genetic variabihty <br /><br />at 56 enzyme and protein loci was studied by means of starch and polyacrylamide <br /><br />gel electrophoresis. Eight loci were polymorphic, and all polymorphic loci were <br /><br />close to Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium. Average heterozygosity per locus was 0.043, <br /><br />which is within the typical range for marine fish species. There appeared to be <br /><br />fewer rare alleles than expected in a population at equilibrium. The Salton Sea <br /><br />habitat is harsh and changing. The amount of genetic variability present in the <br /><br />bairdiella is an indication of the ability of this population to adapt to environ- <br /><br />mental change.
