The speckled dace Rhinichthys osculus (order Cypriniformes), also known as the carpita pinta, is a small cyprinid minnow native to western North America. Here, we report the sequencing of the full mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of R. osculus from a male fish collected from the Amargosa River Canyon in eastern California, USA. The assembled mitogenome is 16 658 base pair (bp) nucleotides, and encodes 13 protein-coding genes, and includes both a 12S and a 16S rRNA, 22 tRNAs, and a 985 bp D-loop control region. Mitogenome synteny reflects that of other Ostariophysian fishes with the majority of genes and RNAs encoded on the heavy strand (H-strand) except nd6, tRNA-Gln, tRNA-Ala, tRNA-Asn, tRNA-Cys, tRNA-Tyr, tRNA-Ser, tRNA-Glu, and tRNA-Pro. The availability of this R. osculus mitochondrial genome - the first complete mitogenome within the lineage of Rhinichthys riffle daces - provides a foundation for resolving evolutionary relationships among morphologically differentiated populations of R. osculus.
Keywords: Cyprinidae; Cypriniformes; Leuciscinae; mitogenome; mtDNA.