Cleaner shrimp are a sustainable option to treat parasitic disease in farmed fish

Alexandra S Grutter,David B Vaughan,Kate S Hutson

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-32293-6

Alexandra S Grutter, David B Vaughan + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32293-6

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Sep 18, 2018
Citations: 29	License type: open-access

Affiliation: University of Queensland, James Cook University

Abstract

Chemical use is widespread in aquaculture to treat parasitic diseases in farmed fish. Cleaner fish biocontrols are increasingly used in fish farming as an alternative to medicines. However, cleaner fish are susceptible to some of their clients’ parasites and their supply is largely dependent on wild harvest. In comparison, cleaner shrimp are not susceptible to fish ectoparasites and they can be reliably bred in captivity. The effectiveness of shrimp in reducing parasites on farmed fish remained unexplored until now. We tested four cleaner shrimp species for their ability to reduce three harmful parasites (a monogenean fluke, a ciliate protozoan, and a leech) on a farmed grouper. All shrimp reduced parasites on fish and most reduced the free-living early-life environmental stages – a function not provided by cleaner fish. Cleaner shrimp are sustainable biocontrol candidates against parasites of farmed fish, with the peppermint cleaner shrimp reducing parasites by up to 98%.

Highlights

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the impacts that their food choices have on the environment
Of the many parasitic species recorded for marine finfish species in the Asia-Pacific region, the ciliate Cryptocaryon irritans, the monogenean Neobenedenia girellae, and the leech Zeylanicobdella arugamensis have economic significance, and are directly responsible for financial losses due to mortalities, or poor production performance[12]
Two L. vittata were eaten by their clients during cohabitation at the completion of the nocturnal trials with N. girellae as the lights were turned on to recover the shrimp

Summary

Introduction

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the impacts that their food choices have on the environment. We investigated the ability of four cleaner shrimp species, Lysmata amboinensis, Lysmata vittata, Stenopus hispidus, and Urocaridella antonbruunii to reduce the parasites C. irritans, N. girellae, and/or Z. arugamensis (representing a protozoan, a monogenean, and a hirudinean fish ectoparasite) infesting the susceptible aquaculture host fish Epinephelus coioides, and the parasites’ respective tomont (cyst), egg, and cocoon environmental stage, under controlled laboratory conditions. Cleaner shrimp reduced parasite numbers on fish and their environmental stages under diurnal and nocturnal conditions (Figs 1–3), shrimp species did not perform and some species performed better at night.

Results

Conclusion