The numbers of selected parasite species from 23 samples of gemfish, Rexea solandri, from seven locations off southern Australia are given. The data were examined for evidence of isolated gemfish populations. Canonical multivariate analyses of the numbers of larval nematodes (Anisakis spp. and Terranova sp.), larval cestodes (Hepatoxylon trichiurid and Nybelinia sp.), acanthocephalans (Rhadinorhynchus sp. and Corynosoma sp.), and a hemiuroid digenean from a total of763 gemfish showed that the parasite faunas of fish from eastern Australia were similar except for a sample taken off New South Wales at the end of the spawning season whose affinities are unknown.

Fish from South Australia had similar parasite faunas to those collected from eastern Australia suggesting the eastern and western Bass Strait fish belong to the same stock. Samples collected from the Great Australian Bight were distinct from the southern and eastern fish. Differences in parasite fauna were detected between samples taken within the spawning season and those taken from the same locations outside the spawning season, presumably a result of the spawning migration.