Dear colleagues, We are excited to share the news about our recently published high-quality reference genome of the leopard seal (*Hydrurga leptonyx*) in Frontiers in Genetics. The article is freely available. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.15... [frontiersin.org] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.1561273/abstract__;!!B4l7hdf5jQ!XgJAHIMeSsxRMmxfdZV4YvbrwpOsoXFgdOxgtHmxLhoBSe5SSvE6I9wKewYWXtOkZv8CmKM2AbLKfuEwqT36KJW-5cq9luWus3ti$> This data report demonstrates the high-quality of our leopard seal reference genome, which has a N50 value of 99.4 Mbp, a L50 value of 9, and a BUSCO completeness of ~94%. The genome size of pinnipeds is highly conserved, and the leopard seal genome falls within expectations for size and chromosome number. The final formatted version of the manuscript will be published soon (including all figures) but all data reported is already available. All the best, Julia and co-authors -- *Dr Julia Canitz* *MaMMELab <http://bonincarolina.wixsite.com/mammel>* Marine and Environmental Sciences Department Hampton University 3 Shore Rd Hampton, VA, 23668 USA *office:* Marine Science Center Building; Room 115 *phone:* (+1) (757) 727-5618 *email:* julia.canitz@hamptonu.edu