Bacterial disease in commercial oyster hatcheries is a major cause of larval mortalities, a major constraint in oyster production. Environmentally-friendly methods for controlling microbial pathogenesis with probiotic bacteria are becoming increasingly preferred over repeated use of antibiotics, which can select for resistant pathogens in the environment.
NOAA’s Milford Laboratory in Connecticut has discovered and developed a benign strain of Vibrio alginolyticus isolated from the digestive glands of oysters, to manage bacterial shellfish pathogens in commercial hatcheries and improve larval survival of the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica).

Their research has shown that adding the probiotic, called OY15, every other day as a supplement to their algal feed can improve survival and disease resistance of eastern oyster larvae by 20-35 percent when challenged with a known shellfish pathogen.