Subsea pointed me to this article on how Gut Bacteria affects fish health
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Gut microbiota can affect fish physiology, development, life span, immunity, and barriers against pathogens (
Burns et al., 2016;
Nie et al., 2017;
Smith et al., 2017;
Yan et al., 2016). Therefore, the gut microbiota plays an indispensable role in fish fitness. Several recent reviews have centered on the diversity and functions of bacterial communities in healthy fish (
de Bruijn et al., 2017), as well as on the external factors that affect fish gut microbiota (
Wang et al., 2017) and interactions between gut microbiota and innate immunity in fish (
Gómez & Balcázar, 2008;
Nie et al., 2017). However, most previous studies have focused on factors that govern healthy gut microbiota, such as diet, rearing conditions, and fish genotype (
Schmidt et al., 2015;
Sullam et al., 2012;
Yan et al., 2016). In contrast, few studies have reported on the interplay among gut microbiota, fish immunity, and disease (
Nie et al., 2017). In this commentary, we summarize current knowledge on the associations between fish immunity, gut microbiota, and invading intestinal pathogens. We also highlight recent progress in uncovering the ecological processes of fish diseases
Another one SubSea directed me to.
http://fisheries.tamu.edu/files/2013/09/Stress-Its-Role-in-Fish-Disease.pdf
I especially like this paragraph:
Quote:
"Exposure to sublethal concentrations of pathogens is extremely important for a fish to develop a competent immune system. An animal raised in a sterile environment will have little protection from disease. Young animals do not have an immune response, which works as efficiently as the immune response in older animals, and therefore, may be susceptible to disease."
