Abstract
Damselfishes of the genus Stegastes are some of the most abundant fish inhabiting shallow reef habitats. Although Stegastes play an important role in promoting primary production in reef ecosystems, their territories are known to favor the occurrence of bacterial pathogens. However, no studies so far have examined the microbiome composition of Caribbean Stegastes species. Here, we characterized the skin bacterial microbiome of juveniles and adults of Stegastes leucostictus and Stegastes adustus collected from La Parguera, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Our results showed that bacterial communities residing on the skin of Stegastes were related to taxonomy, environment and ontogeny. These results are in line with previous knowledge on the dynamics of fish skin microbiomes.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the staff of Isla Magueyes Laboratories, and the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies at the University of the Virgin Islands for logistic support. We thank the reviewers for their suggestions that helped improve this manuscript. Field work was supported by National Science Foundation grant OCE-1536794 (PC Sikkel, PI). Laboratory work and data analysis were financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE program and by National Funds through FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology (project PTDC/MAR-BIO/0902/2014 -POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016550; project PTDC/BIA-MIC/27995/2017 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-027995); RX, AP and DR were supported by FCT under the Programa Operacional Potencial Humano—Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional funds from the European Social Fund and Portuguese Ministério da Educação e Ciência (AP doctoral grant PD/BD/114357/2016; DR doctoral grant SFRH/BD/117943/2016; RX Investigador FCT contract IF/00359/2015). This is contribution #216 from the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies of the University of the Virgin Islands.
Funding
Field work was supported by National Science Foundation grant OCE-1536794 (PC Sikkel, PI). Laboratory work and data analysis were financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE program and by National Funds through FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology (project PTDC/MAR-BIO/0902/2014 -POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016550; project PTDC/BIA-MIC/27995/2017 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-027995); RX, MCS, AP and DR were supported by FCT under the Programa Operacional Potencial Humano—Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional funds from the European Social Fund and Portuguese Ministério da Educação e Ciência (Andres Pagan and Ana Pereira doctoral grants PD/BD/114357/2016 and SFRH/BD/144928/2019; DR doctoral grant SFRH/BD/117943/2016; MCS DL57/2019/CP1440/CT0019; RX Investigador FCT contract IF/00359/2015).
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The authors declare no conflict of interest and declare that this work was funded the by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE program and by National Funds through FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology (project PTDC/MAR-BIO/0902/2014 -POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016550; project PTDC/BIA-MIC/27995/2017 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-027995; SFRH/BD/144928/2019; PD/BD/114357/2016; SFRH/BD/117943/2016; IF/00359/2015) and the National Science Foundation grant OCE-1536794 (PC Sikkel, PI). All animal subjects were handled in compliance with Arkansas State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocol number 778227-1, P.C. Sikkel, PI. All collecting activities were conducted as permitted by the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) and the Puerto Rico Departamento De Recursos Naturales Y Ambientales (DRNA).
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Xavier, R., Pereira, A., Pagan, A. et al. The effects of environment and ontogeny on the skin microbiome of two Stegastes damselfishes (Pomacentridae) from the eastern Caribbean Sea. Mar Biol 167, 102 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03717-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03717-7