Due to their massive reef structure, blue corals are an important reef-building species in the Indo-West Pacific 11, 12, 13, 14. The blue corals ( Heliopora) are the only genus of octocorals that form a massive hard skeleton and symbiosis with zooxanthellae like scleractinian corals 11 (Fig. With projected continued degradation of coral reefs, 90% of coral reefs may disappear in the next few decades 8, 9, 10. The world has lost almost 50% coral coverage since the 1950s 7.

In recent decades, reef-building corals are threatened by anthropogenic climate change such as ocean warming and acidification 2, 3, as well as local stressors such as overfishing, pollution, and coastal development 4, 5, 6. This reference genome provides a valuable resource for in-depth studies on the adaptive mechanisms of corals under climate change and the evolution of skeleton in cnidarian.Ĭoral reefs are one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems, which support more than one-quarter of marine life with less than 2% of the ocean floor 1. The genome contains 239.1 Mb repetitive sequences, 27,108 protein coding genes, 6,225 lncRNAs, and 79 miRNAs. coerulea with an assembled size of 429.9 Mb, scaffold N50 of 1.42 Mb and BUSCO completeness of 94.9%. Local and high-latitude expansions of Heliopora coerulea were reported in the last decade, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying its thermal resistance. The blue coral Heliopora is the only reef-building octocoral genus and exhibits optimal growth at a temperature close to the bleaching threshold of scleractinian corals.

Genomic studies have enhanced our knowledge of resilience and responses of some coral species to environmental stress, but reference genomes are lacking for many coral species. Coral reefs are under existential threat from climate change and anthropogenic impacts.

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