Abstract: Genetic evolutionary distance of 20 species of Epinephelus was calculated using the clustering analysis of karyotype resemblance\|near coefficient （KRC） based on the karyotype parameters. Results showed that the biggest KRC（λ=09986） and the smallest evolutionary distance（De=00014） appeared between Epinephelus sexfasciatus and E. marginatus， indicating the closest relationship. The smallest KRC（λ=08289） and the biggest evolutionary distance（De=01877） appeared between E. merra and E. tauvina， indicating the farthest distant relationship. The clustering analysis show the bigger evolutionary distant appeared between the species with complicated karyotype and species with simple karyotype. The results of clustering analysis disagreed partially with the phylogeny results based on the morphology of these species. The above results would provide a scientific reference for reasonable resources utilization， protection and phylogeny research of Epinephelus genus.

Key words: Epinephelus, karyotype, resemblance\, near coefficient, evolutionary distance, cluster analysis