A chromosome-level genome assembly of Gray's grenadier anchovy, <i>Coilia grayii</i>

Gray's grenadier anchovy,<i> Coilia grayii</i>,<i> </i>is an important anadromous fish species with economic value in near ocean ecosystems<i>. </i>Despite its significance, the lack of genomic resources has constrained our understanding of its genetic foundation, phylogenetic relationships, and adaptive evolution strategies. In this study, we assembled a chromosome-level reference genome for <i>C. grayii </i>by integrating PacBio HiFi long-reads, Illumina short-reads, and Hi-C sequencing data. The resulting genome is 920.64 Mb in size, with a contig N50 of 36.45 Mb. The genome contains 324.19 Mb of repetitive sequences, and 29,496 protein-coding genes were predicted, with 29,395 functionally annotated. BUSCO analysis revealed that 95.2% of the 3,640 benchmarking genes were complete, underscoring the high quality of the assembly. This high-quality genome provides crucial insights into the phylogeny, evolutionary history, and genetic basis of adaptive traits in <i>Coilia</i> species.