Deep Insights into Gut Microbiota in Four Carnivorous Coral Reef Fishes from the South China Sea.

Investigations of gut microbial diversity among fish to provide baseline data for wild marine fish, especially the carnivorous coral reef fishes of the South China Sea, are lacking. The present study investigated the gut microbiota of four carnivorous coral reef fishes, including , , , and , from the South China Sea for the first time using high-throughput Illumina sequencing. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes constituted 98% of the gut microbiota of the four fishes, and 20 of the gut microbial genera recovered in this study represent new reports from marine fishes.