The environmental and host-associated bacterial microbiota of Arctic seawater-farmed Atlantic salmon with ulcerative disorders

The Norwegian aquaculture of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) is hampered by ulcerative disorders associated with bacterial infections. Chronic ulceration may provide microenvironments that disturb the normal microbial biodiversity of external surfaces. Studying the composition of microbial communities in skin ulcers will enhance our understanding of ulcer aetiology. To achieve this, we tested marine farmed Atlantic salmon and sampled the base and edge of ulcers at the end of winter (April) and end of summer (September), in addition to skin mucus of healthy individuals. In order to assess microbiota associated with the host and obtain insight into the environmental ecology, we also sampled sea water, the sediment layer underneath the farm facility and the distal intestine of Atlantic salmon. The skin microbiota of Atlantic salmon was different from that of the surrounding water. Residential Tenacibaculum and Arcobacter species persistently dominated the cutaneous skin and ulcer mucus surfaces of Atlantic salmon during both winter and summer periods. The intestinal microbiota was dominated by Mycoplasma with an increase in Aliivibrio and Alcaligenes abundance in the intestine of fish with ulcerative disorder at the end of winter. These findings suggest the presence of resilient microbes in the mucus surfaces of Atlantic salmon.