Acute damage from the degradation of Ulva prolifera on the environmental microbiota, intestinal microbiota and transcriptome of Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus

Green tide outbreaks caused by overgrowth of Ulva prolifera in the Yellow Sea of China can cause serious ecological stress with concomitant economic hardships, especially to marine fisheries. In this study, short-term effects (14 days) were evaluated using fresh algae U. prolifera (FU), and a 7-day assessment of the effects of decomposing U. prolifera (DU) algal effluent was conducted to determine the effects on the environmental and intestinal microbiota, intestinal transcriptome and mortality of the commercial marine benthic fish, Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). The results revealed that algal degradation altered the microbial community structure of fish farm water and fish intestines and increased the relative abundance of the pathogens Flavobacteriaceae in water and Vibrio in fish intestines. Fish intestinal tissue structure appeared to be damaged, as indicated in pathological sections, and transcriptome analysis showed intestinal inflammation after exposure, which may have caused an increase in fish mortality. The degradation of U. prolifera led to a bloom of potential pathogenic bacteria and the inflammation of fish intestines, which resulted in disease in the flounder population that reduced fish harvests and might pose a potential health threat. [Display omitted] •U. prolifera decomposition affected the microbiota in the water and fish intestines.•Potential pathogens Flavobacteriaceae in water significantly increased.•The conditional pathogen Vibrio increased significantly in the intestine of Japanese flounder.•U. prolifera exposure damaged fish intestinal structure and increased mortality.•DEGs related to immunity and inflammation in the intestine changed significantly.