Water temperature and disease alters bacterial diversity and cultivability from American lobster (Homarus americanus) shells
Suzanne L. Ishaq,
Sarah M. Turner,
Grace Lee,
M. Scarlett Tudor,
Jean D. MacRae,
Heather Hamlin,
Deborah Bouchard
Affiliations
Suzanne L. Ishaq
School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA; Aquaculture Research Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA; Corresponding author
Sarah M. Turner
Aquaculture Research Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA; Cooperative Extension, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
Grace Lee
Department of Neuroscience, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011, USA; Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
M. Scarlett Tudor
Aquaculture Research Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA; Cooperative Extension, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
Jean D. MacRae
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
Heather Hamlin
Aquaculture Research Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA; School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
Deborah Bouchard
Aquaculture Research Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA; Cooperative Extension, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
Summary: The American lobster, Homarus americanus, is an economically valuable and ecologically important crustacean along the North Atlantic coast of North America. Populations in southern locations have declined in recent decades due to increasing ocean temperatures and disease, and these circumstances are progressing northward. We monitored 57 adult female lobsters, healthy and shell diseased, under three seasonal temperature cycles for a year, to track shell bacterial communities using culturing and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, progression of epizootic shell disease using visual assessment, and antimicrobial activity of hemolymph. The richness of bacterial taxa present, evenness of abundance, and community similarity between lobsters was affected by water temperature at the time of sampling, water temperature over time based on seasonal temperature regimes, shell disease severity, and molt stage. Several bacteria were prevalent on healthy lobster shells but missing or less abundant on diseased shells, although some bacteria were found on all shells regardless of health status.
