Comparative profiling of microbial community of three economically important fishes reared in sea cages under tropical offshore environment.

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the microbial composition of farmed cobia pompano and milkfish, reared in sea-cages by culture-independent methods. This study would serve as a basis for assessing the general health of fish, identifying the dominant bacterial species present in the gut for future probiotic work and in early detection of potential pathogens. High-throughput sequencing of V3-V4 hyper variable regions of 16S rDNA on Illumina MiSeq platform facilitated unravelling of composite bacterial population.