Biological, physiological, immunological and nutritional assessment of farm-reared Litopenaeus stylirostris shrimp affected or unaffected by vibriosis

Shrimp aquaculture in New Caledonia is subject to seasonal mortalities during grow-out due to highly virulent Vibrio nigripulchritudo (Vn). To understand the mechanisms affecting shrimp resistance and leading to significant mortality, a shrimp ecophysiology and immunology survey was conducted on two farms, the first considered as a “control” farm (HC), the second affected by the disease (DF). Mortality observed during the survey at DF started 50days after stocking and was typical of this disease. The main observations regarding shrimp were: (a) growth was not affected by the disease and was faster in the DF than in the HC pond; (b) disease did not affect one sex more than the other, or a specific part of the population in terms of weight; (c) the physical condition of shrimp did not specifically allow us to foresee disease outbreak; (d) shrimp at late premolt stage D2 and early postmolt stage A appeared to be at some points of the mortalities – but not continuously – the most sensitive to disease; (e) physiological, immunological and nutritional parameters of uninfected shrimp in the DF pond were altered, suggesting that environmental stress occurred just before the first mortalities; (f) data suggest that Vn-infected shrimp are more stressed than the presumed healthy shrimp. Combined with pathological and environmental knowledge gained in parallel during this survey, a conceptual model is proposed. Results suggest that an unstable environment induced conditions (i) stressful for the shrimp, increasing their susceptibility to bacterial infections and (ii) favoring the proliferation of the pathogen in the pond. The combination of these two processes could lead to significant mortality. ► Shrimp health was surveyed on pond affected or unaffected by a vibriosis. ► Shrimp in molt stages A and D2 appeared to be the most sensitive. ► Even the health of uninfected shrimp was altered just before the first mortalities. ► Infected shrimp are more stressed than the presumed healthy shrimp. ► From our multidisciplinary approach, a conceptual model is proposed.