Genetic diversity and structure in Arapaima gigas populations from Amazon and Araguaia-Tocantins river basins

Background Arapaima gigas (Schinz, 1822) is the largest freshwater scaled fish in the world, and an emerging species for tropical aquaculture development. Conservation of the species, and the expansion of aquaculture requires the development of genetic tools to study polymorphism, differentiation, and stock structure. This study aimed to investigate genomic polymorphism through ddRAD sequencing, in order to identify a panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and to simultaneously assess genetic diversity and structure in wild (from rivers Amazon, Solimoes, Tocantins and Araguaia) and captive populations.