Transcriptomic dataset for Sardina pilchardus: assembly, annotation and tissue expression

European sardine or pilchard is a planktonic small pelagic fish present from the North Sea in Europe to the coast of Senegal in the North of Africa, and across the Mediterranean sea to the Black Sea. Due to its high contents in proteins and lipids, the fishing of this species is of great nutritional and economical value. Although their importance in the food basket, little is known about the molecular mechanisms present in this species involved in the protein and lipid synthesis. We collected nine tissues of Sardina pilchardus and reconstructed the transcriptome of this species. We obtained 198,597 transcripts, from which 68,031 are protein-coding. Quality assessment was performed by back-mapping reads to the transcriptome and by searching for Single Copy Orthologs. Additionally, Gene Ontology, KEGG and eggNOG annotations were retrieved for most of the protein-coding genes. Finally, each library was quantified in terms of Transcripts per Million to discover their expression patterns.