Three highly heterogeneous haemoglobin phenotypes, each composed of 22 different haemoglobin components, were identified among 17 West African populations of Sarotherodon melanotheron. Natural populations from (1) Senegal, (2) Ivory Coast/Ghana/Togo/Benin, and (3) Congo were distinguished. The heterogeneity and specificity of these respiratory pigments was based on genetic variations at the globin chain coding loci. In total, five different -chains and four different -chains were detected by acidic urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Combinations of -chains were characteristic for populations in (1) Senegal, (2) Ivory Coast, (3) Ghana/Togo/Benin, and (4) Congo. Pronounced variations at the -globin chain cluster were found by acidic urea triton PAGE. Cladistic analyses of the globin chain characteristics confirmed the validity of the following taxonomic units previously ranked as sub-species: (1) populations from Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin belong to the sub-species S. m. melanotheron; (2) populations from Senegal form genetically a separate cluster representing the sub-species S. m. heudelotii; (3) the Congo population, morphologically considered to represent the sub-species S. m. nigripinnis, forms another distinct unit; but there was no evidence of S. m. paludinosus within the samples from Senegal. 1999 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles