Blue tilapia (O. aureus) belongs to tilapiine cichlid tribe which is widely farmed around the world in tropical and subtropical waters. The whole genome sequence for blue tilapia was sequenced using Nanopore GridION X5 and Hi-C technology was employed to assembly of chromosomal-scale genome of blue tilapia. The genome evolution and comparative genomic analyses provide a new horizon for understanding the evolution of the immune genes and characteristics of the temperature tolerance in tilapias.