This is the first documentation of the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the jade perch, Scortum barcoo. The 16,843 bp mitogenome containes 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and 2 ribosomal RNA genes) and two main non-coding regions (the control region and the origin of the light strand replication) as do other vertebrate mitogenomes. The overall base composition of S. barcoo is 27.39% for A, 24.74% for T, 31.14% for C and 16.73% for G, with a slight A + T bias of 52.13%. All protein-coding genes are initiated with ATG except for COX1, which begin with GTG instead. Meanwhile, the termination codons of 13 protein-coding genes are varied with TAA, TAG, TA, T or AGG. The measure of complete mitogenome sequence of S. barcoo will provide fundamental data for the phylogenetic and biogeographic studies of the Terapontidae.
Keywords: Jade perch; Scortum barcoo; Terapontidae; mitochondrial genome.