In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of the common cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis was determined first. The genome was 16,208 bp in length and contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and 2 main non-coding regions [both are control regions (CR)], the gene composition and order of which were similar to most other invertebrates. The overall base composition of S. pharaonis is T: 36.3%, C: 14.7%, A: 40.9% and G: 8.1%, with a hightly A + T bias of 77.2%. Two control regions all contain termination-associated sequences and conserved sequence blocks. This mitogenome sequence data would play an important role in the investigations of the phylogenetic relationships, taxonomic resolution and phylogeography of the Sepiidae.
Keywords: Control region; Sepia pharaonis; Sepiidae; mitochondrial genome.