Glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT; EC 2.6.1.1) occurs as two electrophoretically distinguishable isozymes in the copepod Tigriopus californicus. The slower-migrating form, referred to as GOT2 , is shown to be associated with the mitochondrial cell fraction. GOT2 phenotypes are inherited in typical Mendelian fashion, indicating that they are encoded by a nuclear gene. Allelic frequencies for electrophoretic variants of the two Got loci in 12 California populations of T. californicus show a sharp differentiation of local populations. Linkage studies demonstrated that Got-2 is linked to Got-1; a map of four loci in linkage group I is presented.