There has been considerable debate and confusion over the taxonomic status of snapper Paulin 1990. Southern and northern hemisphere snapper stocks were once considered to be two separate species, Chrysophrys auratus and Pagrus major. However, they are now regarded as the one species Pagrus auratus, with independent and reproductively isolated populations in Japan and Australasia Paulin 1990. In Western Australia, snapper occur in waters from the Dampier Archipelago in the north to the South Australian border in the south Figure 1 Moran pers com. Major concentrations of adult fish occur off Shark Bay, the Abrolhos Islands and in Cockburn Sound. Juveniles are found in sheltered coastal embayments and estuaries such as Wilson Inlet Lenanton pers com. In the Shark Bay region several separate stocks occur, with the inner bay populations being genetically distinct from the fish in the offshore areas Johnson, Creagh and Moran 1986.

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