Microsatellite markers for the tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum, Serrasalmidae, Characiformes), an economically important keystone species of the Amazon River floodplain.

Colossoma macropomum is a keystone species of the Amazon floodplain, and is an important but severely overexploited commercial species. To provide tools for addressing ecological and conservation questions, we developed 14 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers that had between four and 21 alleles per locus in the 25 tested individuals. With the exception of comparisons involving the locus Cm1F5 that also showed heterozygosity deficiency, no pairs of loci were at linkage disequilibrium. Many of the microsatellite loci were also variable in three other serrasalmid species which span the phylogenetic depth of the Serrasalmidae.