Characterization and isolation of DNA microsatellite primers for Arapaima gigas, an economically important but severely over-exploited fish species of the Amazon basin

Arapaima gigas is a CITES II listed species, but it is also one of the most important food fish of the Amazon basin with a historically very large commercial and subsistence fishery. By the 1980s it became commercially extinct in many areas, and in early 2001 the Brazilian government banned all fishing, although this has not prevented illegal fishing. Therefore we developed 14 variable microsatellite markers for A. gigas to gain a knowledge of its population structure, which is needed to implement a sound management policy, and also to provide us with the forensic tools to manage and monitor this over-exploited fish.