Abstract
In this study, the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Cichlao cellaris was determined. The mt genome has a length of 16,526 bp and encodes 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and one AT-rich non-coding region (D-loop). The gene arrangement was similar to those of typical fishes. The total base composition of the mt genome was 25.1% T, 30.8% C, 29.3% A, and 14.8% G. Of the 13 PCGs, 12 genes start with an ATG codon, except COX1 is with GTG. And among these 13 genes, seven (ND1, COX1, ATP8, ND4L, ND5, ND6, and Cytb) used TAA or TAG as the termination codon, whereas six (ND2, COX2, ATP6, COX3, ND3, and ND4) have incomplete stop codon T. Its control region is atypical in being short at 850 bp. This mt genome sequence data will be useful for phylogenetic and systematic analyses within the family Cichlaidae.