Effects of dietary supplementation of Ulva pertusa and non-starch polysaccharide enzymes on gut microbiota of Siganus canaliculatus

Fishes represent the highest diversity of vertebrates; however, our understanding of the compositions and functions of their gut microbiota is limited. In this study, we provided the first insight into the gut microbiota of the herbivorous fish Siganus canaliculatus by using three molecular ecology techniques based on the 16 S r RNA genes(denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, clone library construction, and highthroughput Illumina sequencing), and the Illumina sequencing technique is suggested here due to its higher overall coverage of the total 16 S r RNA genes. A core gut microbiota of 29 bacterial groups, covering >99.9% of the total bacterial community, was found to be dominated by Proteobacteria and Firmicutes in fish fed three dif ferent diets with/without the supplementation of U lva pertusa and non-starch polysaccharide(NSP) enzymes(cellulase, xylanase, and β-glucanase). Diverse potential NSP-degrading bacteria and probiotics(e.g., R uminococcus, Clostridium and Lachnospiraceae) were detected in the intestine of the fish fed U. pertusa, suggesting that these microorganisms likely participated in the degradation of NSPs derived from U. pertusa. This study supports our previous conclusion that U. pertusa-based diets are suitable for the production of S. canaliculatus with lower costs without compromising quality.

Changes of visceral properties and digestive enzymes in the herbivorous marine teleost Siganus canaliculatus fed on different diets

The rabbitfish Siganus canaliculatus is one of the few cultured herbivorous marine teleosts. To better understand the digestive physiology of this fish and provide data for designing formulated feed using macroalgae as an ingredient, the changes of visceral properties and digestive enzyme activities were investigated after the juveniles were fed on different types of food including raw fish（RF）, formulated diet（FD） or macroalgae Enteromorpha prolifra（EP） and Gracilaria lemaneiformis（GL） for eight weeks. The results showed that the hepatosomatic and viscerosomatic indices in the RF and FD groups, as well as the relative intestine length（RIL） in the EP and GL groups, were significantly higher than those in other groups. Additionally, differences in the histological structure of the liver and anterior intestine were also observed among different dietary groups. The hepatic nuclei were displaced to the periphery by lipid inclusions in fish fed RF. The highest levels of mucosal folds were found in the anterior intestines of fish fed macroalgae. Digestive enzyme activity profiles showed obvious fluctuations in the first three weeks, and then leveled off in the following weeks. The levels of protease, lipase and α-amylase in the alimentary tract showed changes related to the levels of dietary protein, lipid and carbohydrate, respectively.Although macroalgae significantly inhibited the activity of protease in the stomach, it increased RIL and the number of mucosal folds in the anterior intestine so as to compensate for the influences on protease activities in the stomach. This study suggests that the digestive tract of rabbitfish can well adapt to different diets, and needs about three weeks to physiologically acclimatize to the nutritional status, thus implying that rabbitfish are somewhat omnivorous.