Amblyopsis spelaea (northern cavefish) genome, fAmbSpe1

The northern cavefish or northern blindfish (Amblyopsis spelaea) is found in caves through Kentucky and southern Indiana. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as near threatened (from Wikipedia entry). This sample of a female individual found in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, was procured by Jeremiah Smith of the University of Kentucky to generate a high-quality reference genome for the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP). Sample collection was facilitated by Rickard Toomey, Cave Resource Management Specialist at Mammoth Cave National Park. Sequencing and genome assembly were conducted at the Vertebrate Genome Lab (VGL) at the Rockefeller University, led by Erich D. Jarvis, Giulio Formenti, and Jennifer Balacco.