Genome sequence of the Mediterranean red coral Corallium rubrum

Our C. rubrum genome assembly is 655 megabases (Mb) in size, distributed across 2910 scaffolds with a very low level of unknown nucleotides (0.95%). We used a pipeline based on the MaSuRCA hybrid assembler, combining long PacBio reads and short Illumina reads, followed by several steps to improve the assembly, including scaffolding, merging, and polishing. This represents the third published genome of an octocoral and the first within the order Scleralcyonacea.