Intestinal microbial communities of Mediterranean wild grey mullets

Aquaculture is a fast growing practice with great relevance for food production. Transition to large scale production faces numerous challenges in terms of ecological capacity of existing production sites and their environmental impact. Recent evidences suggest that fish intestinal microbiome could play a pivotal role in enabling fish to colonize new aquatic environments. In this context, little is know about the gut microbiome of mullets species commonly cultured in the Mediterranean region and how it changes along seasons. In this study microbial intestinal communities of 34 wild mullets from transitional waters have been investigated along four different seasons. The results shed light on the grey mullet gut microbiome and its potential role on fish adaptation to aquatic system.