Chromosome-level genome assembly and annotation of pawak croaker (Pennahia pawak).

The diversity of fish coloration is a fascinating scientific question. The pawak croaker (Pennahia pawak) is distinguished by its silver-white colour, setting it apart from other Sciaenidae species. However, the genomic information of this genus remains largely unexplored. This study aims to advance our understanding by assembling and annotating the genome of P. pawak at the chromosome level using multi-platform sequencing data. The assembled genome size of P. pawak is 613.02 Mb, closely matching the estimated size of 570.32 Mb from 21-mer analysis. The assembly features a scaffold N50 of 27.09 Mb, with 24 chromosomes successfully constructed using Hi-C technology, achieving a mounting rate of 99.31%. Genome annotation revealed that 26.20% of the genome consists of repetitive sequences and identified 26,361 protein-coding genes, of which 25,885 have functional annotations. This chromosome-level genome assembly of P. pawak provides valuable resources for comparative genomic studies within the Sciaenidae family and offers foundational data for researchers to understand its unique silver-white pigmentation.