A Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly of the Dark Sleeper Odontobutis potamophila

The dark sleeper, Odontobutis potamophila, is a commercially valuable fish that widely distributed in China and Southeast Asia countries. The phenomenon of sexual dimorphism in growth is conspicuous, which the males grow substantially larger and faster than the females. However, the high-quality genome resources for gaining insight into sex-determining mechanisms to develop sex-control breeding are still lacking. Here, a chromosomal-level genome assembly of O. potamophila was generated from a combination of Illumina reads, 10× Genomics sequencing, and Hi-C chromatin interaction sequencing. The assembled genome was 1,134.62 Mb with a contig N50 of 22.25 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 24.85 Mb, representing 94.4% completeness (Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs). Using Hi-C data, 96.49% of the total contig bases were anchored to the 22 chromosomes, with a contig N50 of 22.25 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 47.68 Mb. Approximately 54.18% of the genome were identified as repetitive elements, and 23,923 protein-coding genes were annotated in the genome. The assembled genome can be used as a valuable resource for molecular breeding and functional studies of O. potamophila in the future.

Estimating some population parameters and stock assessment of Dark Sleeper Odontobutis potamophila in the Gaosha River, Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province, China

A study was conducted to investigate the growth parameters, mortality and recruitment pattern of Odontobutis potamophila collected in the Gaosha river fish landing site, west part of Wuyuan County (Latitude: 29° 14' 29" N, Longitude: 117° 45' 49" E). O.potamophila were collected from November, 2013 to October, 2014. Growth parameters, asymptotic length (L) = 192mm and growth coefficient (k) = 0.22 year-1. Growth performance index(Ø’) =3.91, total mortality (Z) = 0.72 year-1, natural mortality (M) = 0.32 year-1, fishing mortality (F) = 0.40 year-1 and exploitation rate (E) = 0.55year-1.The estimated exploitation rate (E) has slightly exceeded the optimum value of E indicating this species was sustainable exploitation in the study area. The exploitation ratios were computed as Emax= 0.61, E10= 0.52, E50= 0.34. The length at first capture at 50%, (Lc) was 77 mm. The recruitment pattern of the species was found continuous all-round the year with one peak. The observation of the annual recruitment of O.potamophila found to occur from May to July. Steady biomass also increased with length class until 121-125 mm, and the total steady state biomass was found to be 2240 kg.