Stunting in freshwater fish is a common phenomenon occurring in a wide variety of species throughout the world. It has been speculated that stunted fish have been selected for slow growth rate and will be genetically different in this respect from normal populations. Yellow perch Perca flavescens and pumpkinseeds Lepomis gibbosus in Lac Hertel, Québec, have been stunted for at least 20 and 12 years, respectively. To test for a genetic component to the stunting of the Lac Hertel fish, we used optimal laboratory conditions to raise 1-year-old yellow perch and pumpkin-seeds from Lac Hertel and from two comparable nonstunted populations (Lakes Memphremagog and Massawippi, Québec). The hypothesis tested was that Hertel fish would grow more slowly than fish from the other two lakes (which should grow at similar rates). No differences were found in either the growth or the mean: Variance relationship. Thus, the differences in growth in the field are principally an effect of environmental variation, not genetic differentiation.