Marine fish doma (Sciaenoids) (Small spp.) from Bombay coast was studied for total bacterial counts on the surface and gut. Large number of Micrococcus species (77.4%) was found whereas few species from Achromobacter, Bacillus, Bacterium, Flavobacter, Pseudomonas and Sarcina were noted

Magar, N.G.

Pawar, S.S.

Aquatic Commons

BACTERIAL FLORA OF 
(SCIAENOIDS) (Small Spp.) 
MARINE FISH DOMA 
FROM BOMBAY COAST 
S. S. PAWAR AND N. G. MAGAR 
Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Science, Bombay. 
Marine fish doma (Sciaenoids) (Smail spp.) from Bombay 
coast was studied for total bacterial counts on the surface and gut. 
Large number of Micrococcus species (77.4%) were found whereas 
few species from Achromobacter, Baci11us, Bacterium, Flavobacter, 
Pseudomonas and Sarcina were noted 
' ' 
INTRODUCTION 
Spoilage of fish is usually brought 
about by autolysis, oxidation and bacterial 
activity. 
In any case the bacterial spoilage has 
the most conspicuous influence upon the 
decrease in keeping quality. Zobell and 
Upham (1944) found that there was 
generally a similarity between the bacterial 
flora responsible for the spoilage of fish 
and that existing in its marine environ-
ments. Beatty and Collins (1939) and 
Collins (1941) investigated the spoilage of 
marine fish. Green (1949) and William 
(1952) studied the bacteriology of shrimp. 
Shaikhmahmud and Magar (1956) in their 
studies on the bacterial flora of Born bay 
Prawns observed that entire course of 
spoilage of prawns depended on the 
bacterial flora inhabiting the prawns. 
There are various species of marine 
fish available along the Bombay coast but 
26 
the data regarding the microflora are very 
meagre. The present work was therefore 
planned to study the microflora inhabiting 
the surface and gut of the marine fish, 
doma (Sciaenoids) (Small spp.) from 
Bombay Coast. 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
Fish required for studies were collected 
from Government of India deep sea fishing 
Centre, Colaba, Bombay. The marine fish 
doma 5 to 6 in number (Sciaenoids) (Small 
spp.) were individually put in sterile wide 
mouth bottle and brought to the laboratory 
from aboard the trawler where the fish 
remained after the catch for an hour or so 
without refrigeration or ice. Each bottle 
was opened under aspetic condition and 
the area of one square inch was marked 
on the body of fish by a sterile divider. 
This area was very carefully rubbed off as 
clean as possible with sterile cotton swabs. 
The swabs were collected in 100 mi. of 
sterile distilled water with intermittant 
gentle swirling to ensure suspension of the 
microorganisms. The fish was then cut 
open dorsally by a longitudinal cut with a 
sterile pair of scissors and the gut was 
removed and was cut opened as aseptically 
as possible and mixed with sterile distilled 
water as above. These bacterial suspens-
ions were diluted serially and plated by 
the usual pour plate method using tap 
water nutrient agar and sea water nutrient 
agar for each. diluted suspension. The 
viable counts were taken after incubating 
the plates for 72 hours at 33°C. The 
bacterial counts were ascertained by re-
peating the above procedure several times. 
In order to determine the bacterial flora 
inhabiting the fish surface and gut a 
number of representative colonies as dist-
inguished from shape, size and colour was 
isolated from the plates and transferred 
aseptically on nutrient agar slants. 
The following media were used to 
study the comparative growth of the 
microbes and to differentiate the various 
biochemical characteristics. 
1. Nutrient agar containing fresh water 
and aged sea water. 
2. Nutrient broth prepared in water, sea 
water and 3% NaCl. 
3. Potato slants. 
4. Litmus milk medium. 
5. Tryptone broth. 
6. Nitrate broth. 
7. Various carbohydrate media. 
8. Gelatin agar and gelatin slants. 
9. Starch agar medium. 
RESULTS AND DISSCUSSION 
Total bacterial counts taken from the 
surface and gut are incorporated in Table I 
and number of each genera included put 
in Table II. 
27 
It is evident from Table I that fish 
surface contains large amount of micro-
organisms whereas gut contains very small 
number of micro-organisms. The surface 
of the fish· contains a large number of 
micro-organisms because the surface is 
exposed to the surroundings and most of 
the bacteria are carried on the surface. It 
was also observed that sea water agar gave 
a better 'growth of organisms as against 
tap water agar. Several difficulties were 
encountered while classifying micro-orga-
nisms · according to Bergey's Manual 
(Bergey's Manual of determinative Bactere-
ology). Out of 62 cultures isolated, a 
large majority belonged to the Micrococcus, 
which constituted about 77.4 per cent of 
the total isolates and remaining constituted 
only 22.6 per cent, The different species 
recorded were as follows: 
MICROCOCCUS ACHROMOBACTER 
1. M. f/avescens 1. A. aquamarinus 
2. M. mucotaciens 2. A. candicans 
3. M. cereus 3. A. liquefaciens 
4. M. mucofaciens 4. A. litorale 
5. M. pikowskyi 
6. M. cora/linus BACILLUS 
7. M. species 
8. M. subcitreus 1. B. species 
9. M. rosaceeus 
10. M. luteus 
11. M. per{lavus 
12. M. aurantiacus 
13. M. varians 
14. M. candicans. 
BACTERIUM 
1. M. marinopiscosus 
2. B. species 
FLA YO BACTERIUM PSEUDOMONAS 
1. F. amocontactum 1. P. ambigua 
2. F. aquatile 2. P. striata 
SARCINA 
1. S. lutea. 
TABLE. I. TOTAL BACTERIAL COUNT 
Surface * Gut@ Sample 
Number Locality Sea Tap Sea Tap 
Water Water water water 
1. 
2. 
3. 
Colaba Bunder 
Colaba Bunder 
Colaba Bunder 
3.7 X 105 
2.0 X 106 
3.4 X 105 
* Expressed per squre inch of the surface. 
@Entire gut. 
1.2 X 105 
1.4 X 106 
1.9 X 105 
9.1 X 105 
8.4 X 103 
7.3 X lOs 
4.8 X 103 
5.0 X 103 
3.4 X 10 3 
Each value represents the mean of 4- 5 different values. 
TABLE II DISTRIBUTION OF BACTERIA ACCORDING TO GENERA 
IN THE GUT AND SURFACE OF THE FISH 
Name of the Genera 
Micrococcus 
Ach romobacter 
Bacterium 
Bacillus 
Flavobacter 
Pseudomonas 
Sarcina 
Most of the Micrococcus, Bacillus, 
Flavobacter were found to be chromogenic 
in nature and usually produced all shades 
of yellow, cream and pink pigments. 
Achromobacter included the organisms 
having the property of indole and H 2 S 
production which reflected their role in the 
spoilage of fish. 
It was noted that majority of the 
organisms was of the proteolytic types 
which indicated their high spoilage 
pontentiaJ. 
28 
Total number of isolates . 
recorded from each genera 
48 
4 
3 
3 
2 
2 
1 
The present flora of the fish studied 
was comparable to that reported by Bhat 
end Albuquerque ~1953), Jadhav (1961) 
and Shaikhmahmud (1958) from Bombay 
and Venkatraman and Sreenivasan (1954) 
from Malbar respectively on Bombay 
ducks, pomphrets, prawns and mackerel. 
The investigation ofthe flora inhabit-
ing the surface of fish indicated the types 
of organism occurring in the surroundings 
of the animal. 
SUMMARY. 
'Bacterial flora of the marine fish 
doma (Sciaenoids) (Small spp.) from 
Bombay Coast was studied. Total viable 
counts were recorded. Total bacterial 
counts on the surface were quite large in 
number as against gut. 62 cultures were 
isolated and identified to the nearest species 
described in Bergey's Manual. Large 
number of Micrococcus species were found 
whereas few species of the following genera 
Achromobacter, Bacillus, Bacterium, Flavo-
bacter, Pseudomonas and Sarcina were 
noted. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
The authors wish to express their 
sincere thanks to the Council of Scientific 
and Industrial Research, New Delhi, for 
financing the work. 
REFERENCES : 
Beatty, S. A. and Collins, V. K. 1939. 
J. Fish. Res. Bd. Canada 4, 412. 
Bergey, D. H., Breed, · R. S., Murray, 
E.G.D. and Hitchens, A. P. Bergey's 
Manual of determinative Bacteriology. 
29 
Bhat, T. V. and Albuquerque, M. J. 
1953. Proc. Ind. Sci. 38 Bm, 101. 
Collins, V. K. 1941 J. Fish. Res. Bd. 
Canada, 5, 197. 
Green Margaret. 1949. Food Res. 14 365. 
Green Margaret. 1949. Food Res. 14, 372. 
Jadhav, M. G. 1961. M. Sc. Thesis, 
University of Bombay. 
Shaikhahmud, F. and Magar N. G· 
1956. J. Sci. Ind. Res. 150, 174. · 
Shaikhmahmud, F. 1958. Ph. D Thesis, 
University of Bombay. 
Skerman, V. B. D. 1949. Bact. Rev. 
13, 175. 
Venkatraman, R. and Sreenivasan, A. 1954. 
Food. Res. 19, 311. 
William. 0. B. 1952. Seafood Business: 
5, 17. c. f. World Fish. Abstr., 1955, 
4, 4. 
Wood, ·E. J. F. 1950. Proc. Linn. Soc. 
NSW, 75, 195. 
ZeBell, C. E. and Upham, H. C. 1944. 
Bull. Scripps. lnst. Oceanog., Univer-
sity of California, 5, 239. 


Bacterial flora of marine fish doma (Sciaenoids) (Small spp.) from Bombay coast

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Bacterial flora of marine fish doma (Sciaenoids) (Small spp.) from Bombay coast

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