Platax teira compete T2T genome sequencing and assembly
Longfin batfish (Platax teira) is a tropical marine fish species belonging to the family Ephippidae in the order Perciformes and suborder Percoidei. It is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific region, including the South Sea and around Taiwan in China. The longfin batfish has a distinctive black-and-white coloration with a unique ornamental value. It also features fast growth and tender, delicious flesh. In this study, we successfully constructed the first telomere-to-telomere (T2T) chromosome-scale genome for the longfin batfish by integrating PacBio HiFi, Nanopore ONT ultra-long reads, and Hi-C sequencing technologies. The final assembled genome size is 694.3 Mb, with a contig N50 of 30.0 Mb. It was anchored onto 24 chromosomes, presenting a complete set of 48 telomeres. We predicted 192.0 Mb of repetitive sequences and annotated 25,662 protein-coding genes. The genome and protein BUSCO scores reached 98.8% and 98.4%, respectively, indicating high genome completeness. This high-quality T2T genome data provides an essential foundation for further research on the functional genomics, genetic diversity, and selective breeding of the longfin batfish.