Acute Effect of Short-Term Benzocaine Anesthesia on the Skin Mucus Microbiome of Atlantic salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>)
Routine aquaculture practices such as capture, transportation, and handling can disrupt the relationship between commensal and opportunistic bacteria in the fish skin microbiome. Anesthetic baths are a common welfare practice in aquaculture to reduce stress during handling. However, to date, no stud...
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| author | Patrícia Martins Tânia Pimentel Nuno Ribeiro Ricardo Calado |
| author_facet | Patrícia Martins Tânia Pimentel Nuno Ribeiro Ricardo Calado |
| author_sort | Patrícia Martins |
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| description | Routine aquaculture practices such as capture, transportation, and handling can disrupt the relationship between commensal and opportunistic bacteria in the fish skin microbiome. Anesthetic baths are a common welfare practice in aquaculture to reduce stress during handling. However, to date, no studies assessed the effect of anesthetics on bacterial communities in fish skin mucus. This study is the first to evaluate the influence of benzocaine, a widely used anesthetic, on the skin mucus bacterial microbiome of Atlantic salmon reared in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Using Illumina high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we found that bacterial richness and diversity were significantly reduced in skin mucus samples from fish with anesthesia (ANE) when compared with those without anesthesia (CTR). The predominant bacterial classes in both groups were Gammaproteobacteria (54.1–62.6%) and Betaproteobacteria (22.6–22.9%). However, significant dissimilarities in beta diversity were observed between the bacterial community structure of salmon skin mucus samples from ANE and CTR. These findings demonstrate that benzocaine exposure alters skin mucus microbiome of Atlantic salmon potentially leading to dysbiosis. This study also provides baseline information on the bacterial communities of Atlantic salmon skin mucus microbiome in an RAS. As no temporal resampling was performed, the duration and persistence of these changes remain unknown and warrant further investigation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cf4cb8f7b57041e29867acfa4ba59d55 |
| institution | OA Journals |
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| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
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| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj-art-cf4cb8f7b57041e29867acfa4ba59d552025-08-20T02:23:00ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152025-05-011511156610.3390/ani15111566Acute Effect of Short-Term Benzocaine Anesthesia on the Skin Mucus Microbiome of Atlantic salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>)Patrícia Martins0Tânia Pimentel1Nuno Ribeiro2Ricardo Calado3ECOMARE & CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies), Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalECOMARE & CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies), Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalMVAQUA, Av. Parque de Campismo, Lote 24, Fração C, 3840-264 Vagos, PortugalECOMARE & CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies), Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalRoutine aquaculture practices such as capture, transportation, and handling can disrupt the relationship between commensal and opportunistic bacteria in the fish skin microbiome. Anesthetic baths are a common welfare practice in aquaculture to reduce stress during handling. However, to date, no studies assessed the effect of anesthetics on bacterial communities in fish skin mucus. This study is the first to evaluate the influence of benzocaine, a widely used anesthetic, on the skin mucus bacterial microbiome of Atlantic salmon reared in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Using Illumina high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we found that bacterial richness and diversity were significantly reduced in skin mucus samples from fish with anesthesia (ANE) when compared with those without anesthesia (CTR). The predominant bacterial classes in both groups were Gammaproteobacteria (54.1–62.6%) and Betaproteobacteria (22.6–22.9%). However, significant dissimilarities in beta diversity were observed between the bacterial community structure of salmon skin mucus samples from ANE and CTR. These findings demonstrate that benzocaine exposure alters skin mucus microbiome of Atlantic salmon potentially leading to dysbiosis. This study also provides baseline information on the bacterial communities of Atlantic salmon skin mucus microbiome in an RAS. As no temporal resampling was performed, the duration and persistence of these changes remain unknown and warrant further investigation.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/11/1566aquacultureRASfish skin mucusbacteriabenzocaine |
| spellingShingle | Patrícia Martins Tânia Pimentel Nuno Ribeiro Ricardo Calado Acute Effect of Short-Term Benzocaine Anesthesia on the Skin Mucus Microbiome of Atlantic salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>) Animals aquaculture RAS fish skin mucus bacteria benzocaine |
| title | Acute Effect of Short-Term Benzocaine Anesthesia on the Skin Mucus Microbiome of Atlantic salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>) |
| title_full | Acute Effect of Short-Term Benzocaine Anesthesia on the Skin Mucus Microbiome of Atlantic salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>) |
| title_fullStr | Acute Effect of Short-Term Benzocaine Anesthesia on the Skin Mucus Microbiome of Atlantic salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Acute Effect of Short-Term Benzocaine Anesthesia on the Skin Mucus Microbiome of Atlantic salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>) |
| title_short | Acute Effect of Short-Term Benzocaine Anesthesia on the Skin Mucus Microbiome of Atlantic salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>) |
| title_sort | acute effect of short term benzocaine anesthesia on the skin mucus microbiome of atlantic salmon i salmo salar i |
| topic | aquaculture RAS fish skin mucus bacteria benzocaine |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/11/1566 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT patriciamartins acuteeffectofshorttermbenzocaineanesthesiaontheskinmucusmicrobiomeofatlanticsalmonisalmosalari AT taniapimentel acuteeffectofshorttermbenzocaineanesthesiaontheskinmucusmicrobiomeofatlanticsalmonisalmosalari AT nunoribeiro acuteeffectofshorttermbenzocaineanesthesiaontheskinmucusmicrobiomeofatlanticsalmonisalmosalari AT ricardocalado acuteeffectofshorttermbenzocaineanesthesiaontheskinmucusmicrobiomeofatlanticsalmonisalmosalari |