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The genetic variability of wild populations of green
arowana (Scleropages formosus) from Tasek Bera Lake and
Endau River and a captive stock of Malaysian golden arowana as an out-group
population was studied. The average number of alleles per locus was low,
ranging from 2.33 in the Endau River population to 2.56 in the Tasek Bera
Lake population. Departures from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed
in these three populations depending on the locus. Among nine loci, seven
significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (p<0.05) in
the Tasek Bera Lake population whereas five significantly departed from
HWE (p<0.05) in the Endau River population. A deficit of heterozygosity
was observed from the analysis of these nine loci. This genetic data indicate
the wild population may be under stress due to inbreeding, over fishing
and deterioration in the breeding environment. The estimates of FST
and RST were statistically greater than zero for each comparison
and this suggested the existence of three genetically distinct populations.
However, the values of FST is low between Tasek Bera Lake and
Endau River populations, reflecting historical patterns of connections
between river systems in Peninsular Malaysia.