Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genomes of two Critically Endangered wedgefishes: and .

We present the complete mitochondrial genomes of the Critically Endangered whitespotted wedgefish, (Forsskål, 1775), and bottlenose wedgefish, (Whitley, 1939), with the mitogenome documented for the first time. The genomes for and are 16,799 and 16,805 bp in length, respectively. Both comprise 13 protein-coding regions, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and a non-coding control region. All protein-coding regions consistently start with the ATG start codon; however, the alternative start codon GTG is observed at the start of the gene. , , and have incomplete stop codons: T or TA, and and , have atypical codons: UAA, UGA, GCU, and UAG. The phylogenetic analysis places and within the genus, separate from other families in the order Rhinopristiformes. We also highlight the most variable gene regions to expedite future primer design, of which was the most variable (4.5%) when taking gene length into account. These molecular resources could promote the taxonomic resolution of the whitespotted wedgefish species complex and aid in the genetic characterization of populations of these and related species.