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At present, food security is a matter of debate of global magnitude and fulfilling the feeding requirement of > 8 billion human populations by 2030 is one of the major concerns of the globe. Aquaculture plays a significant role to meet the global food requirement. Shrimp species such as Litopenaeus vannamei , Penaeus monodon , and Macrobrachium rosenbergii are among the most popular food commodities worldwide. As per Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leadership survey, disease outbreaks have been a matter of concern from the past many decades regarding the shrimp aquaculture production. Among the past disease outbreaks, white spot disease caused by the white spot syndrome virus is considered to be one of the most devastating ones that caused colossal losses to the shrimp industry. Since the virus is highly contagious, it spreads gregariously among the shrimp population; hence, practicing proper sanitization practices is crucial in order to have disease-free shrimps. Additionally, in order to control the disease, antibiotics were used that further leads to bioaccumulation and biomagnification of antibiotics in several food webs. The bioaccumulation of the toxic residues in the food webs further adversely affected human too. Recently, immunostimulants/antivirals were used as an alternative to antibiotics. They were found to enhance the immune system of shrimps in eco-friendly manner. In context to this, the present paper presents a critical review on the immunostimulants available from plants, animals, and chemicals against WSSV in shrimps. Looking into this scenario, maintaining proper sanitation procedures in conjunction with the employment of immunostimulants may be a viable approach for preserving shrimp aquaculture across the globe.

Increasing evidence suggests that the intestinal microbiota is closely correlated with the host’s health status. Thus, a serious disturbance that disrupts the stability of the intestinal microecosystem could cause host disease. Shrimps are one of the most important products among fishery trading commodities. However, digestive system diseases, such as white feces syndrome (WFS), frequently occur in shrimp culture and have led to enormous economic losses across the world. The WFS occurrences are unclear. Here, we compared intestinal bacterial communities of WFS shrimp and healthy shrimp. Intestinal bacterial communities of WFS shrimp exhibited less diversity but were more heterogeneous than those of healthy shrimp. The intestinal bacterial communities were significantly different between WFS shrimp and healthy shrimp; compared with healthy shrimp, in WFS shrimp, Candidatus Bacilloplasma and Phascolarctobacterium were overrepresented, whereas Paracoccus and Lactococcus were underrepresented. PICRUSt functional predictions indicated that the relative abundances of genes involved in energy metabolism and genetic information processing were significantly greater in WFS shrimp. Collectively, we found that the composition and predicted functions of the intestinal bacterial community were markedly shifted by WFS. Significant increases in Candidatus Bacilloplasma and Phascolarctobacterium and decreases in Paracoccus and Lactococcus may contribute to WFS in shrimp.

The emergence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS), also known as Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND), severely constrained the sustainability and economic growth of shrimp aquaculture worldwide. The objective of this comprehensive review was to analyze the effectiveness of vaccination as a strategic approach to combat V. parahaemolyticus and control AHPND, focusing on practical alternatives and integrated management methods. The study synthesized global reports from 2009 to 2025, during which AHPND outbreaks led to up to 100 % shrimp mortality within 10–35 days post-stocking, with production decreases of 60 % in some regions and global economic losses estimated at $43 billion from 2010 to 2016. The review examined experimental evidence from laboratory and field trials regarding live attenuated, inactivated, recombinant subunit, and DNA vaccines, as well as complementary approaches including probiotics, phage therapy, plant-based compounds, and metallic nanoparticles. The analysis revealed that inactivated vaccines achieved 41.1–100 % relative percent survival (RPS) and were safe but short-lived, while live attenuated vaccines demonstrated the highest efficacy (96.9–100 % RPS) with prolonged protection, yet posed biosafety challenges. DNA vaccines showed promising results with up to 96.11 % RPS, and protein subunit vaccines achieved 66.7–82.4 % RPS. Certain probiotics such as Lactobacillus plantarum SGLAB01 and bacteriophage pVp-1 significantly improved shrimp survival and immune responses, with pVp-1 showing 90.9 % infectivity against AHPND strains. The study concluded that integrated strategies combining vaccination with biological and natural agents were more effective in mitigating AHPND and reducing antibiotic dependence. However, regulatory hurdles, variable field conditions, delivery challenges, and pathogen diversity limited widespread vaccine adoption. Vaccination shows promise as a sustainable approach to improve shrimp health and economic resilience, but current limitations in efficacy and delivery highlight the need for further research. Vaccine optimization and its integration with management strategies are key to controlling V. parahaemolyticus and Early Mortality Syndrome globally.

Shrimp aquaculture has become a vital industry, meeting the growing global demand for seafood. Shrimp viral diseases have posed significant challenges to the aquaculture industry, causing major economic losses worldwide. Conventional treatment methods have proven to be ineffective in controlling these diseases. However, recent advances in RNA interference (RNAi) technology have opened new possibilities for combating shrimp viral diseases. This cutting-edge technology uses cellular machinery to silence specific viral genes, preventing viral replication and spread. Numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of RNAi-based therapies in various model organisms, paving the way for their use in shrimp health. By precisely targeting viral pathogens, RNAi has the potential to provide a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to combat viral diseases in shrimp aquaculture. This review paper provides an overview of RNAi-based therapy and its potential as a game-changer for shrimp viral diseases. We discuss the principles of RNAi, its application in combating viral infections, and the current progress made in RNAi-based therapy for shrimp viral diseases. We also address the challenges and prospects of this innovative approach.

Shrimp is one of the most valuable aquaculture species globally, and the most internationally traded seafood product. Consequently, shrimp aquaculture practices have received increasing attention due to their high value and levels of demand, and this has contributed to economic growth in many developing countries. The global production of shrimp reached approximately 6.5 million t in 2019 and the shrimp aquaculture industry has consequently become a large-scale operation. However, the expansion of shrimp aquaculture has also been accompanied by various disease outbreaks, leading to large losses in shrimp production. Among the diseases, there are various viral diseases which can cause serious damage when compared to bacterial and fungi-based illness. In addition, new viral diseases occur rapidly, and existing diseases can evolve into new types. To address this, the review presented here will provide information on the DNA and RNA of shrimp viral diseases that have been designated by the World Organization for Animal Health and identify the latest shrimp disease trends.

Microorganisms play crucial roles in nutrient cycling, water quality maintenance, and farmed animal health. Increasing evidences have revealed a close association between unstable microbial environments and disease occurrences in aquaculture. Thereupon, we used high-throughput sequencing technology to comprehensively compare the bacterial communities of water, sediment, and intestine in mariculture ponds at the middle and late stages of Litopenaeus vannamei farming and analyzed whether changes of their microbiota assemblages were associated with environmental factors and shrimp physiological health. Results showed that bacterial community structures were significantly distinct among water, sediment, and intestine; meanwhile, the relative abundances of intestinal dominant taxa were significantly changed between different rearing stages. Compared with intestine and water, shrimp intestine and sediment had a similar profile of the dominant bacterial genera by cluster analysis, and the observed species, diversity indexes, and shared OTUs of bacterial communities in intestine and sediment were simultaneously increased after shrimp were farmed for 90 days. These results reflected a closer relationship between microbiotas in sediment and intestine, which was further proved by nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis. However, bacterial communities in water, sediment, and intestine responded differently to environmental variables by redundancy and correlation analysis. More importantly, shrimp physiological parameters were closely associated with bacterial variations in the gut and/or ambient, especially the gut microbiota owning significantly high levels of predicted functional pathways involved in disease emergence. These findings may greatly add to our understanding of the microbiota characteristics of the shrimp pond ecosystem and the complex interactions among shrimp, ambient microflora, and environmental variables.

The gut microbiota of aquaculture species contributes to their food metabolism and regulates their health, which has been shown to vary during aquaculture progression of their hosts. However, limited research has examined the outcomes and mechanisms of these changes in the gut microbiota of hosts. Here, Kuruma shrimps from the beginning, middle, and late stages of aquaculture progression (about a time duration of 2 months between each stage) were collected and variations in the gut microbiota of Kuruma shrimp during the whole aquaculture process were examined. High-throughput sequencing demonstrated increases in the diversity and richness of the shrimp gut microbiota with aquaculture progression. In addition, the gut microbiota composition differed among cultural stages, with enrichment of Firmicutes, RF39, and Megamonas and a reduction in Proteobacteria in the mid-stage. Notably, only very few taxa were persistent in the shrimp gut microbiota during the whole aquaculture progression, while the number of taxa that specific to the end of aquaculture was high. Network analysis revealed increasing complexity of the shrimp gut microbiota during aquaculture progression. Moreover, the shrimp gut microbiota became significantly more stable towards the end of aquaculture. According to the results of neutral community model, contribution of stochastic processes for shaping the shrimp gut microbiota was elevated along the aquaculture progression. This study showed substantial variations in shrimp gut microbiota during aquaculture progression and explored the underlying mechanisms regulating these changes.

Shrimp farming is a growing industry, and automating certain processes within aquaculture tanks is becoming increasingly important to improve efficiency. This paper proposes an image-based system designed to address four key tasks in an aquaculture tank with Penaeus vannamei: estimating shrimp length and weight, counting shrimps, and evaluating feed pellet food attractiveness. A setup was designed, including a camera connected to a Raspberry Pi computer, to capture high-quality images around a feeding plate during feeding moments. A dataset composed of 1140 images was captured over multiple days and different times of the day, under varying lightning conditions. This dataset has been used to train a segmentation model, which was employed to detect and filter shrimps in optimal positions for dimensions estimation. Promising results were achieved. For length estimation, the proposed method achieved a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 1.56%, and width estimation resulted in a MAPE of 0.15%. These dimensions were then used to estimate the shrimp’s weight. Shrimp counting also yielded results with an average MAPE of 7.17%, ensuring a satisfactory estimation of the population in the field of view of the image sensor. The paper also proposes two approaches to evaluate pellet attractiveness, relying on a qualitative analysis due to the challenges of defining suitable quantitative metrics. The results were influenced by environmental conditions, highlighting the need for further investigation. The image capture and analysis prototype proposed in this paper provides a foundation for an adaptable system that can be scaled across multiple tanks, enabling efficient, automated monitoring. Additionally, it could also be adapted to monitor other species raised in similar aquaculture environments.

It is now recognized that gut microbiota contributes indispensable roles in safeguarding host health. Shrimp is being threatened by newly emerging diseases globally; thus, understanding the driving factors that govern its gut microbiota would facilitate an initial step to reestablish and maintain a “healthy” gut microbiota. This review summarizes the factors that assemble the shrimp gut microbiota, which focuses on the current progresses of knowledge linking the gut microbiota and shrimp health status. In particular, I propose the exploration of shrimp disease pathogenesis and incidence based on the interplay between dysbiosis in the gut microbiota and disease severity. An updated research on shrimp disease toward an ecological perspective is discussed, including host–bacterial colonization, identification of polymicrobial pathogens and diagnosing disease incidence. Further, a simple conceptual model is offered to summarize the interplay among the gut microbiota, external factors, and shrimp disease. Finally, based on the review, current limitations are raised and future studies directed at solving these concerns are proposed. This review is timely given the increased interest in the role of gut microbiota in disease pathogenesis and the advent of novel diagnosis strategies.

The gut microbial communities interact with the host immunity and physiological functions. In this study, we investigated the bacterial composition in Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp’s gut and rearing water under different host (developmental stage: juvenile and adult; health status: healthy and diseased) and environmental factors (temperature 25 °C and 28 °C; and light intensity: low and high). The PCoA analysis showed that all water samples were clustered together in a quarter, whereas the gut samples spread among three quarters. In terms of functional bacteria, gut samples of adult shrimp, healthy adult shrimp, adult shrimp raised at 28 °C, and juvenile shrimp under high light intensity exhibited a higher abundance of Vibrionaceae compared to each other opposite group. Gut samples of juvenile shrimp, infected adult shrimp, juvenile shrimp with low light intensity, and adult shrimp with a water temperature of 25 °C showed a higher abundance of Pseudoaltromonadaceae bacteria compared to each other opposite group. Gut samples of juvenile shrimp, healthy adult shrimp, adult shrimp raised at a water temperature of 28 °C, and juvenile shrimp with high light intensity showed the higher abundance of Firmicutes / Bacteroidota ratio compared to each other opposite group. Our results showed that L. vannamei juveniles are more sensitive to bacterial infections; besides, water temperature of 28 °C and high light intensity groups were both important conditions improving the shrimp gut bacterial composition under industrial indoor farming systems. Key points • Bacteria diversity was higher among shrimp intestinal microbiota compared to the rearing water . • Shrimp juveniles are more sensitive to bacterial infection compared to adults . • Water temperature of 28 °C and high light intensity are recommended conditions for white shrimp aquaculture . Graphical Abstract