The genus Trachinotus consists of 40 species of Carangid fish, 6 of which are farmed in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. After an extensive literature review carried out in 2021 by the FAU-Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 3 species of viruses, 11 species of bacteria, and more than 70 species of parasites were identified as potential pathogens of the Florida pompano (T. carolinus), some of which are responsible of important direct and indirect economic losses to the aquaculture industry every year. As part of the prophylactic measures that can be implemented by the fish farmers, vaccines have been effectively used in food fish for approximately 30 years. This review provides an overview of those commercially available for this species, as well as those that are still in an experimental stage, with the aim of suggesting and facilitating a wider use by the farmers.
In 2009, the Center for Veterinary Biologics of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS, USDA) licensed 17 fish vaccines, 2 modified live and 14 killed vaccines. Since then, and in the last few years, they have become commercially available for most of the pompano’s potential pathogens, including viruses such as the Red Seabream Iridovirus (RSIV) and the Red Spotted Grouper Nervous Necrosis Virus (RGNNV), and bacteria such as Listonella anguillarum (syn. Vibrio a.), Tenacibaculum marinum (syn. Flexibacter m.), Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Aeromonas hydrophila.
Vaccines for some other pathogens, however, still need more research, being only at initial experimental stage. Such is the case for acid-fast bacteria (Mycobacterium marinum and Nocardia seriolae), Pseudomonas spp. and some Vibrio spp. (V. harveyi, V. ponticus and V. vulnificus), the dinoflagellate Amyloodinium ocellatum, and some parasitic copepods (e.g., Caligus sp. and Lepeophtheirus sp.). However, with the advances of the new biotechnology and molecular biology techniques, new options in the form of subunit vaccines, recombinant vector and DNA vaccines, are becoming increasingly available. Furthermore, although some progress has also been made on the study of the immune host reaction against other parasites (ciliates such as Cryptocaryon irritans, and some micro- and myxosporidians protozoans), these studies are still at a very early stage.
On the other hand, new vaccination methods, such as immersion (less cost and time consuming, and more effective in the case of anorexic fish), still demand much work. And what is more, these vaccines, which seem to work in other species, still need to be tested for efficacy in Florida pompano and other finfish marine species. In addition to the forgoing, we cannot forget that the first step in order to develop a specific vaccine is the isolation, ideally from the same fish species, and correct identification of the pathogen’s species and strain, and frequently this work cannot be done without involving the joint efforts of the industry, health specialist, and public/private research institutions.