Gamete compatibility between marine and estuarine Acanthopagrus spp. (Sparidae) and their hybrids.

On Australia's south-east coast, hybridization between estuary-restricted black bream Acanthopagrus butcheri Munro and its migratory coastal congener yellowfin bream Acanthopagrus australis (Günther) has led to estuarine populations largely composed of hybrids that are most genetically similar to A. butcheri. The fertilization success achieved when ova of estuary-caught A. butcheri were fertilized with the cryogenically preserved sperm of either ocean-caught A. australis or estuary-caught A. butcheri-like was compared. The experimental crosses, which by chance included both pure parental and hybrid bream, revealed no evidence that gametic incompatibility provides a barrier to fertilization among both pure species and their hybrids.