Chinese scientists actualize near-complete genome assembly of protected fish species

KUNMING -- The first high-quality telomere-to-telomere genome of Bagarius rutilus, a fish species under China's second-class national protection, has been successfully assembled by a joint research team of Chinese scholars from the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, this institute said on Monday.

The research findings were published in the international scientific journal Scientific Data on Dec 12, 2025.

Liu Yaqiu, first author of the paper and an assistant researcher at the Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), said the assembled genome had achieved 98.17-percent coverage and 97.5-percent completeness, with 29,106 protein-coding genes annotated, making it the most complete and contiguous genome currently available among Siluriformes species, the taxonomic order to which Bagarius rutilus belongs.

Bagarius rutilus is a large, benthic carnivorous fish endemic to the Yuanjiang-Red River basin in Southwest China's Yunnan province. Once heavily overfished, the species has also experienced a sharp population decline due to hydropower development, water pollution and invasive species, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced conservation measures.

Liu Mingdian, a researcher at the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute under the CAFS, said the release of this genome provides critical data for understanding the species' adaptation to fast-flowing environments and for developing artificial breeding and restocking strategies.

These findings are expected to facilitate population recovery and habitat conservation of this rare fish species, the researchers noted.