Abstract
Fish mucus layers are the main surface of exchange between fish and the environment, and they possess important biological and ecological functions. Fish mucus research is increasing rapidly, along with the development of high-throughput techniques, which allow the simultaneous study of numerous genes and molecules, enabling a deeper understanding of the fish mucus composition and its functions. Fish mucus plays a major role against fish infections, and research has mostly focused on the study of fish mucus bioactive molecules (e.g., antimicrobial peptides and immune-related molecules) and associated microbiota due to their potential in aquaculture and human medicine. However, external fish mucus surfaces also play important roles in social relationships between conspecifics (fish shoaling, spawning synchronisation, suitable habitat finding, or alarm signals) and in interspecific interactions such as prey-predator relationships, parasite–host interactions, and symbiosis. This article reviews the biological and ecological roles of external (gills and skin) fish mucus, discussing its importance in fish protection against pathogens and in intra and interspecific interactions. We also discuss the advances that “omics” sciences are bringing into the fish mucus research and their importance in studying the fish mucus composition and functions.
Highlights
External mucus is the main surface of exchange between fish and their surrounding environment, and plays a key role in intra- and interspecific chemical communication [1,2].Mucus acts as a dynamic physical and biochemical barrier, displaying numerous biological and ecological roles such as osmoregulation [3,4], protection against abrasion [5], protection against environmental toxins and heavy metal toxicity [6], parental feeding [7], protection against pathogens [8], and chemical communication [9]
We describe the different biological
We review and evaluate the use of the different “omics” technologies on fish mucus research and their potential to discover novel mucus components and deepen the understanding of the fish mucus functions
Summary
External (skin and gill) mucus is the main surface of exchange between fish and their surrounding environment, and plays a key role in intra- and interspecific chemical communication [1,2]. Most research on fish mucus has focused on immune-related molecules and AMPs, but few studies have analysed other mucus molecules and their ecological roles in the environment. There are currently numerous research studies and review articles investigating specific components of fish mucus (e.g., immune molecules [36], antimicrobial peptides [26], and bacterial communities [37]), but to the best of our knowledge, no recent study (beyond Shepard, 1994 [4]) has investigated the importance of fish mucus for both the fish and the ecosystem. We review and evaluate the use of the different “omics” technologies (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) on fish mucus research and their potential to discover novel mucus components and deepen the understanding of the fish mucus functions
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