The present paper deals with the variation of meristic and measurement characters in 7 principal spawning shoals of the Large Yellow Croaker along the coast of China. The problem of classification of its geographical populations is also discussed. Analyses of our samples yeilded the following results: 1. Both the average and the frequency distribution of the meristic characters, such as the gil1-rakers and branches of the air-bladder, and of the measurement characters such as eye-diameter, the depth of the caudal peduncle, the body depth, etc., increase or decrease gradually from the north to the south according to the distribution of the populations. It is worth mentioning that individuals with 27 vertebrae were met with in the three main shoals off Kiangsu and Chekiang belonging to the northern area of distribution, but not in the southern ones. 2. Basing upon the comparative analyses of Mdiff and frequency distribution of some characters, together with the data on oceanographical conditions, peculiarities of reproduction, and the structure of the populations, we further classify the Large Yellow Croaker along the coast of China into three geographical populations--the Tai-chu race, the Min-Uehtung race and the Naochow race. Among these three races the difference between Tai-chu and Naochow races is very conspicuous, while the Min-Uehtung race has a transitional disposition. 3. The relationships between morphological characters of the populations and some environmental factors are also preliminarily discussed.