Chromosome-level genome assembly of the lemon sole, Microstomus kitt (Pleuronectiformes: Pleuronectidae)

Background The lemon sole (Microstomus kitt) is a culinary fish from the family of righteye flounders (Pleuronectidae), inhabiting sandy, shallow offshore grounds of the North Sea, western Baltic Sea, English Channel, Great Britain and Ireland, Bay of Biscay, and coastal waters of Norway. Findings Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly of the lemon sole. We applied PacBio HiFi sequencing on the PacBio Revio system to generate a highly complete and contiguous reference genome. The resulting assembly has a contig N50 of 17.2 Mbp and a scaffold N50 of 27.2 Mbp. The total assembly length is 628 Mbp, comprising 24 chromosome-length scaffolds. The identification of 99.7% complete BUSCO genes indicates a high level of assembly completeness. Conclusions The chromosome-level genome assembly of the lemon sole provides a high-quality reference genome for future population-level genomic analyses of this commercially valuable, edible fish.