With the intensification of global climate warming, high-temperature stress has emerged as a critical environmental factor constraining the sustainable development of Apostichopus japonicus aquaculture, an economically important species. As an eco-friendly and sustainable management strategy, probiotic intervention has attracted increasing interest in the aquaculture sector due to its potential to enhance host health and environmental adaptability. Existing studies have demonstrated that conventional aquatic probiotics can improve the growth performance and non-specific immune responses of A. japonicus. However, their functional efficacy remains largely confined to short-term routine health maintenance. Notably, these exogenous probiotics exhibit limited capacity to fundamentally enhance the long-term thermotolerance of A. japonicus, particularly under recurring or prolonged thermal stress associated with global warming. This functional limitation is primarily attributed to their poor colonization ability within the host intestinal tract. Such shortcomings underscore the urgent need to explore alternative probiotic strategies capable of establishing more stable and persistent host-microbe interactions, thereby conferring sustained protection against thermal stress.
This paper provides a systematic review of the current application status and limitations of aquatic probiotics in sea cucumber aquaculture, with a focus on their roles in health management and stress mitigation. A comparative analysis is conducted between endogenous and exogenous probiotics, highlighting the distinct ecological interactions, colonization efficiency, and functional persistence associated with each type. Special emphasis is placed on the potential advantages of endogenous probiotics in establishing stable host-microbe associations and improving host resilience to environmental stressors. Unlike exogenous strains, endogenous probiotics originate from the host's native microbiota, enabling them to more effectively occupy specific ecological niches, resist competitive exclusion, and maintain long-term functional activity within the gastrointestinal tract. These inherent characteristics render endogenous probiotics particularly promising candidates for enhancing host thermotolerance through sustained modulation of physiological and immunological pathways.
Drawing on insights from cross-species comparisons, this paper further explores the role of coral endosymbiotic bacteria in enhancing coral host thermotolerance, offering valuable implications for the development of analogous endosymbiotic probiotics in A. japonicus. Within this context, the concept of utilizing pioneer microorganisms native to the A. japonicus microbiota as candidate endogenous probiotics is introduced and discussed.
Finally, this paper evaluates the developmental pathways, feasibility, and key research directions for constructing heat-resistant endosymbiotic probiotics tailored to A. japonicus, aiming to provide innovative perspectives for promoting green, efficient, and sustainable aquaculture practices under the pressures of climate change. By advancing the exploration and application of endogenous endosymbiotic probiotics, this review seeks to contribute to the sustainable intensification of A. japonicus aquaculture in an era of rapid environmental change.
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