Use of ecofriendly alternatives for the control of bacterial infection in aquaculture of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

The sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka, 1867) is a commercially important cultured animal; however, due to the weakened immunity of A. japonicus or the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria, various diseases are emerging during aquaculture of this species. Antibiotics are effective agents to control bacterial infection to a certain degree, but they have the drawbacks of generating antibiotic resistant bacteria, destructing microbial ecosystems, and finally deteriorating the environment and the host. Thus, the exploration of effective and ecofriendly alternatives to prevent bacterial infection has increasingly attracted much attention. In this review, the ecofriendly agents including immunostimulants to enhance the immune responses of A. japonicus and the antagonists to inhibit the bacterial pathogens are summarized and evaluated to better the knowledge and the practice in the conquering various bacterial diseases in aquaculture of A. japonicus.