The partial mitochondrial genome of the enigmatic Bermuda fireworm Odontosyllis enopla Verrill, 1900 and its phylogenetic implications

The Bermuda fireworm, Odontosyllis enopla Verrill, 1900, is a marine polychaete that displays a unique bioluminescent mating ritual. Despite the first sighting of O. enopla over 534 years ago, the availability of molecular data has been limited. Several syllid mitogenomes are currently available; however, there are only three published genes for O. enopla ; two partial mitochondrial genes (16S [508bp] and cox1 [653bp]; 1,161bp total) and one partial nuclear gene (18S [1,339bp]). This study bioinformatically mined previously published transcriptomes of O. enopla for mitochondrial reads and subsequently assembled and annotated a partial mitochondrial genome (10,172bp). The partial mitogenome includes nine (of 13) protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNAs, and seven (of 22) complete tRNAs. We place the Bermuda fireworm in phylogenetic context using all available syllid mitogenomes, analyze intraspecific variation among three female O. enopla partial mitogenomes, and propose two putative locations for the mitochondrial origin of replication.