The complete mitogenome of the Atlantic hydrothermal vent shrimp Rimicaris exoculata Williams & Rona 1986 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alvinocarididae).

In this study we completely determined and analyzed the mitochondrial genome of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal-vent shrimp Rimicaris exoculata (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alvinocarididae). The circular molecule is 15,902 bp in size with an AT content of 65.7%, composed of the same 37 mitochondrial genes as in all other known metazoan mitogenomes. Sequence composition of the R. exoculata mitogenome is exceptionally similar to that of its Indian-Ocean congener R. kairei, which suggests the fact that they might diverge at a quite recent age. The genome exhibits an ancestral pancrustacean arrangement of mitochondrial genes that presents only the translocation/inversion of trnL-UUR from the ancestral arthropod pattern. Determination of the R. exoculata mitogenome can help to resolve the consensus Decapoda tree of life. It also provides more genetic information available for phylogenetics as well as population genetics on this extensively studied species from hydrothermal vents.