Mitochondrial genome of the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish Pristis pectinata from Veracruz, Mexico

Abstract

Sawfishes, family Pristidae, occur in tropical and subtropical coastal marine, estuarine and freshwater ecosystems. The smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) has been wholly or nearly eliminated from large areas of its former range in the Atlantic Ocean by fishing pressure (trawl and inshore netting) and habitat modification. Here, we report the complete sequence of the mitochondrial genome of a specimen caught in Barra de Cazones by local fishermen, Veracruz, Mexico in 2015, where was thought to be almost extinct and compare it with the previously reported mitochondrial genome from an individual caught in Florida. The genome structure and composition of both specimens is almost identical, except for two nucleotide variations remarking the low variation between regions for this species. The mitochondrial genome has a total length of 16803 nucleotides; in average the base composition was A 32.1%, T 28.9%, C 26.0% and G 13.1%, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes; 22 tRNA genes.