Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial genome for the Northern Anchovy, Engraulis mordax (Engraulidae: Clupeiformes)

Abstract

The northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax, is a small planktivorous fish from the northeastern Pacific Ocean that is an important forage for fishes, birds, and marine mammals, and is also the target of a commercial fishery. Here, we assembled a complete 16,664 bp genome for the E. mordax mitochondrion, which encodes for 12S and 16S rRNAs, 22 tRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes, and a 1016 bp D-loop in the characteristic arrangement of Order Clupeiformes. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the evolutionary relatedness of E. mordax to other fishes of Family Engraulidae within Order Clupeiformes, but also indicated non-monophyly for the herring family, Clupeidae.