The complete mitochondrial genome of deep-sea ophiuroid Ophioleila elegans (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from the Shkolnik Guyot, a northwest Pacific seamount

Abstract

Ophiuroids are a diversified benthic taxon in the deep sea. Given their various dispersal strategies, they are considered an adequate group to assess genetic connectivity, especially in the seamounts that function as islands. Ophioleila elegans A.H. Clark, 1949, in the family Ophiothamnidae, was previously reported from the Caiwei Guyot, a seamount in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Here, we described the mitochondrial genome of O. elegans collected from another seamount in the northwest Pacific. The whole mitogenome is 16,376 bp in length and encodes 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mitogenome sequences showed that O. elegans was clustered with Histampica sp., the only species for which mitogenome sequence has been reported within the family Ophiothamnidae. The complete mitogenome of O. elegans first reported in the present study provides useful information for population genetics and evolutionary relationship of this taxon, especially in the northwest Pacific seamounts.