Kecheng Zhu, Baosuo Liu, Huayang Guo, Nan Zhang, Dianchang Zhang
Abstract Rhabdosargus sarba , Acanthopagrus schlegelii , and Evynnis cardinalis are representative Sparidae fish in the northern South China Sea. In the past century, these species have become economically important marine fishery species in the western Pacific region. Although they are economically very important fish species, high-quality genetic maps for germplasm resource evaluation research are lacking. With the use of PacBio and Hi-C sequencing technologies, the chromosome-level genomes of R. sarba , A. schlegelii , and E. cardinalis were constructed. The final assembly sizes of R. sarba , A. schlegelii , and E. cardinalis were 731.5 Mb, 701.7 Mb, and 736.7 Mb, respectively, with contig N50 values of 6.6 Mb, 16.4 Mb, and 6.9 Mb, respectively. Moreover, 99.75%, 99.11%, and 98.87% of these three Sparidae fish genome sequences on 24 chromosomes with total lengths of 729.6 Mb, 695.5 Mb, and 728.4 Mb, respectively, were successfully anchored. In addition, the average chromosome lengths of these three Sparidae fishes were 30.4 Mb, 29.0 Mb, and 30.3 Mb, respectively. A total of 207.8 Mb, 187.0 Mb, and 205.8 Mb of interspersed repeats and 21,674, 22,011, and 21,915 protein-coding genes were annotated in the genomes of R. sarba , A. schlegelii , and E. cardinalis , respectively. The genomes of these three Sparidae fish species will provide a theoretical foundation not only for facilitating comparative genomic studies but also for genetic breeding programs for the three Sparidae species.