Salinity effect on intestinal microbiota in golden pompano trachinotus ovatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Abstract

Golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) is a commercially important marine fish which is widely cultured in the coastal area of South China. Salinity is one of the most important environmental factors influencing the intestinal microbiota. The aim of this study was to investigate the intestinal microbiota of juvenile golden pompano reared at different salinities. In this 56 day experiment, juveniles were reared at 5, 15, 25 and 35‰ salinities. Based on ACE, Chao1 and Shannon, Simpson diversity indices, salinity did not influence the bacterial richness and diversity in golden pompano intestine. The data indicated that the dominant phyla in golden pompano intestine reared at each salinity group were Proteobacteria. The principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) indicated that the bacterial communities were not clustered, and the bacterial communities were very different in the salinity groups. The findings showed that golden pompano have specific intestinal microbiota in different salinity environments. However, the intestinal microbiota in golden pompano were strongly influenced by salinity and were also affected by the phylogeny of golden pompano. Further studies are needed to explore the relationship between the intestinal microbiota and growth of golden pompano under different salinities.