Chromosome-level genome assembly of a deep-sea fish Lycenchelys sp. HM-2022

Deep-sea fishes provide valuable resources for investigating vertebrate adaptation to extreme marine environments. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly for a new deep-sea eelpout Lycenchelys sp. HM-2022 (Perciformes: Zoarcidae). The genome was assembled using PacBio high-fidelity (HiFi) long-read sequencing, polished with short-read data, and anchored to chromosomes using Hi-C sequencing. We also generated RNA sequencing data from two tissues of muscle and gill to support gene annotation and transcript-level reuse. The final assembly spans approximately 762.76 Mb with a scaffold N50 of 26.74 Mb, successful anchored on to 25 pseudochromosomes. Genome completeness assessed by Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) reached 98.4%. Genome annotation revealed approximately 42.75% of the repeat sequences and 21,826 protein-coding genes. This chromosome-level genome provides an essential genomic resource for comparative genomics, marine biodiversity studies and investigations of molecular adaptation in deep-sea vertebrates.