Friday January 13, 2023
The Fish Site —
There is wide consensus that the health and well-being of fish is highly influenced by their microbiota, which can play a fundamental role in different biological processes such as metabolism and immune response of the fish.
Therefore, it is important to understand how the microbiome of organisms is altered by environmental effects and host conditions and how this influences the health of the host. In this regard, the Aquaculture Genomics line (RP1) of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aquaculture Research (INCAR) is carrying out a series of studies to understand the factors that shape the intestinal microbiota in fish to promote healthy organisms, favouring their well-being in aquaculture production.
Recently, the researchers of INCAR RP1, Dr (c) María F Morales-Rivera, Dr Diego Valenzuela-Miranda, Dr Gustavo Núñez-Acuña, Bárbara P Benavente, Dr Cristian Gallardo-Escárate and Dra Valentina Valenzuela-Muñoz, published “Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) transfer to seawater by gradual salinity changes exhibited an increase in the intestinal microbial abundance and richness,” a study that delves into the bacterial communities associated with the process of transferring salmonids from freshwater to seawater. For this research, scientists designed an experiment where the intestinal microbiota of salmon transferred to seawater was evaluated under different strategies: saline shock, gradual change in salinity and use of a food with a special formulation to prepare a more robust fish when transferred to sea.