Malabar red snapper is an important and high-value aquaculture species in Singapore that is attracting substantial interest and new industry investment. Despite its rising profile as an aquaculture candidate there currently is scarce knowledge and resources related to the sex determination and differentiation of the species. The production of good quality eggs consistently in a biosecure breeding facility is an important steppingstone for establishing a selective breeding program for the species which is now underway in Singapore. Related reproductive studies are needed to address the challenges in Malabar red snapper seed production such as limited success of spawning the species in closed culture systems. Herein, we report the first gonadal transcriptomes of L. malabaricus by sequencing testes (n=6) and ovaries (n=6) in adult Malabar red snapper using high-throughput RNA-Seq technology. After data filtering and mapping to the reference genome, a total of 27,493 genes were obtained, out of which 14,421 significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in testis (n=7,922) and ovary (n=6,499) by comparing the gene expression in testis and ovary. The DEGs include genes previously known to be related to gonadal development and gametogenesis such as male-biased dmrt1, spat7, sox9, and nanos2, and female-biased foxl2, sox3, wnt4a, esr1, and cyp19a. The expression level of selected DEGs were verified by RT-qPCR, the result of which showed positive correlation with RNA-Seq data. This study lays the basis for further research in genes involved in sex determination and differentiation, sex control and reproduction in Malabar red snapper.