Microbial Communities in a Flow-Through Fish Farm for Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.) During Healthy Rearing Conditions

In this study we have monitored microbial communities in a fish farm for lumpfish during normal operational conditions with no disease outbreak by using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The study involved weekly samplings of water and biofilms from fish tanks, and fish. The results revealed that the microbial communities in fish tank water were different from the intake water. The water and biofilm in fish tanks were highly similar in regards to microbial community members, but with large differences in relative abundances for some taxa. The sampled fish were associated with mostly the same taxa as in tank water and biofilm, but more variation in relative abundances of different taxonomic groups occurred. The microbial communities in the fish farm seemed stable over time, and were dominated by marine bacteria and archaea within Alphaproteobacteria, Epsilonproteobacteria, Flavobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Thaumarchaeota, Planctomycetes, Sphingobacteriia, and Verrucomicrobiae (>10% relative abundance). Bacterial genera known to include fish-pathogenic strains were detected in all types of sample materials, but with low relative abundances (
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research