AFLP fingerprinting was used to detect genetic variation and divergence of three wild stocks of Red Sea Bream , Pagrus major , from the Yellow Sea (Weihai) , the East China Sea (Xiamen) and the South China Sea (Beibuwan). Atotalof 42 individualswerestudiedusingsixprimerpairs (E-ACC/M -CAT, E-AGG/M CTG, E-AGG/M -CTT,E -AAC/M -CTA,E -ACA/M -CTGandE -AAC/M -CAA). 452 (70.0%) of 646 selectively amplified fragments ranging in size from 50 bp to 400 bp were polymorphic. The mean percentages of polymorphic bands of the three geographic stocks in question varied from 58. 4 % to 64. 0 % , and the genetic similarities estimated within stocks varied from 0. 8425 to 0. 8200. The maximum and the minimum polymorphism occurred in the samples from the Yellow Sea population and the South China Sea population , respectively. The genetic distances between stocks and UPGMA dendrogram indicated that the genetic divergence between the East China Sea stocks and the South China Sea stocks of P. major was small , suggesting that they belong to the same subpopulation , and the Yellow Sea stocks was separated from the other two stocks , belonging to a different subpopulation.