The diversity and microbial load of the micro flora inhabiting the gut sections of captured and the cultured Clarias gariepinus were investigated. The gut contents of the fish were isolated and characterized using standard method. The results of the characterization revealed the presence of bacteria and fungi in the guts of the fish. The bacteria isolated from the captured fish were Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella mobilis, Enterobacter spp, Shigella spp, and Micrococcus varians while Citrobacter spp, Proteus vulgaris, Enterobacter spp, Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens and Shigella spp were isolated from the cultured fish.. The fungi isolates found in the gut of the captured fish included, Penicillium chrysogenum, Fusarium spp and Rhizopus stolonifer while Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigates were isolated in the cultured fish. The bacteria count obtained from the fore gut, mid gut and hind gut of the captured fish were; 1.4 x 1O-~B cfu/g, 1.7 x 1O-~B cfu/g and 2.7 x 1O-~B cfu/g while that of cultured fish had 2.8 x 10-~B cfu/g, 2.05 x 10-~Bcfu/g and 2.65 x 10-~Bcfu/g respectively. The spore count of the fungi isolated from the fore gut, mid gut and hind gut of captured fish ranged between 4.0 x 10-~B spore/g and 9.0 x 1O-~B spore/g while the count obtained from the cultured fish ranged between 3.0 x 10-~B and 9.05 x 1O-~B spore/g. The hind gut had the highest number of species and microbial load in both captured and cultured fish than the other region. Though, there was significant difference (P0.05). The results therefore suggest that there is diversity in microbial composition and microbial load in different sections of the gut of cultured and captured fish which may reflect of the environment where they were raised
