The complete mitochondrial genome of Sebastes pachycephalus (Scorpaenidae, Scorpaeniformes) from the East Sea, Korea.

Due to variations in coloration as well as other morphological features, the identification of Sebastes pachycephalus has been problematic. The complete mitogenome of S. pachycephalus was acquired using next-generation sequencing. The full genome was 16,415 base pairs (bp) in length, assembling two rRNAs, 22 tRNAs, one control region and 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs). The genome constitutes 27.9% A, 26.3% T, 17.2% G and 28.5% C, showing a slight AT bias (54.2%). All PCGs start with an ATG initial codon except COX1, which contains GTG. Most PCG stop codons were TAA, except for ND1 and ND3 (TAG) and Cytb (incomplete termination codon, T). All tRNAs showed the typical cloverleaf structure, except tRNA(Ser(AGY)), which lacks the DHU arm. The complete mitogenome of S. pachycephalus will help further identification and speciation analyses.