| Summary: | The spotted catfish, <i>Arius maculatus</i> (Siluriformes), is an important economical aquaculture species inhabiting the Indian Ocean, as well as the western Pacific Ocean. The bioinformatics data in previous studies about the phylogenetic reconstruction of Siluriformes were insufficient and incomplete. In the present study, we presented a newly sequenced <i>A. maculatus</i> mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). The <i>A. maculatus</i> mtDNA was 16,710 bp in length and contained two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, thirteen protein-coding genes (PCGs), twenty-two transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and one D-loop region. The composition and order of these above genes were similar to those found in most other vertebrates. The relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) of the 13 PCGs in <i>A. maculatus</i> mtDNA was consistent with that of PCGs in other published Siluriformes mtDNA. Furthermore, the average non-synonymous/synonymous mutation ratio (Ka/Ks) analysis, based on the 13 PCGs of the four Ariidae species, showed a strong purifying selection. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis, according to 13 concatenated PCG nucleotide and amino acid datasets, showed that <i>A. maculatus</i> and <i>Netuma thalassina</i> (Netuma), <i>Occidentarius platypogon</i> (Occidentarius), and <i>Bagre panamensis</i> (Bagre) were clustered as sister clade. The complete mtDNA of <i>A. maculatus</i> provides a helpful dataset for research on the population structure and genetic diversity of Ariidae species.
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