Cleaner shrimp remove parasite eggs on fish cages
Vaughan, David B., Grutter, Alexandra S., and Hutson, Kate S. (2018) Cleaner shrimp remove parasite eggs on fish cages. Aquaculture Environment Interactions, 10. pp. 429-436.
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Abstract
Benthic stages of cultured fishes' ectoparasites are a major contributor to persistent reinfections in aquaculture. These stages are resistant to chemical therapies and are costly to manage in terms of time and labour. Cleaner shrimp, unlike cleaner fishes, prey on benthic stages, suggesting they have the potential to reduce parasite reinfection pressure without having to be in direct contact with the client fish. Cleaner shrimp have never been used as biocontrols in commercial aquaculture, but offer an advantage over cleaner fishes in that they are not susceptible to the ectoparasites of their clients. We present the first investigation of a cultured cleaner shrimp, Lysmata vittata, as a biocontrol agent against the eggs of the economically important cosmo politan ectoparasite Neobenedenia girellae infecting cultured juvenile grouper, Epinephelus lanceolatus, under simulated recirculating aquaculture conditions. L. vittata removed the eggs of N. girellae entangled on the mesh of the culture cages and significantly reduced N. girellae recruitment to fish by similar to 87%. Our results demonstrate the value of cleaner shrimp in addressing ectoparasite problems and highlight the importance of investigating novel biocontrol strategies in aquaculture.
| Item ID: | 55938 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1869-7534 |
| Keywords: | biocontrol, cleaner shrimp, Lysmata vittata, aquaculture, ectoparasites |
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| Copyright Information: | © The authors 2018. Open Access under Creative Commons by Attribution Licence [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]. Use, distribution and reproduction are unrestricted. Authors and original publication must be credited. |
| Additional Information: | A version of this publication was included as Chapter 5 of the following PhD thesis: Vaughan, David Brendan (2018) Cleaner shrimp as biocontrols in aquaculture. PhD thesis, James Cook University, which is available Open Access in ResearchOnline@JCU. Please see the Related URLs for access. |
| Funders: | James Cook University |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Oct 2018 09:28 |
| FoR Codes: | 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3005 Fisheries sciences > 300501 Aquaculture @ 50% 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3005 Fisheries sciences > 300503 Fish pests and diseases @ 50% |
| SEO Codes: | 83 ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 8301 Fisheries - Aquaculture > 830102 Aquaculture Fin Fish (excl. Tuna) @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9604 Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species > 960407 Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species in Marine Environments @ 50% |
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