Muralidharan Velappan
The microbial quality of two common edible marine fishes numbering 25 red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) and 25 Indian oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) were collected from fish landing centre, Kasimedu, Chennai was assessed during the period from march 2015 to march 2016. Swabs were taken from skin, gill, oral cavity tissues and intestine were incubated in brain heart infusion broth for 24hrs at 37oC. Differentiation and characterization of various isolates were conducted based on their growth characteristics on specific culture media. The results revealed that the samples were contaminated by seven bacterial species, which includes Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio spp. The skin samples considered the highest isolation of the total isolates. Members of the genus Vibrio spp., such as Vibrio cholera, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus was the predominant bacterial isolates, and there were considerable numbers of Staphylococcus spp found in all examined samples which were observed in skin, gill, oral cavity tissues and intestine, whereas Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa which were restricted to intestine, gills and oral cavity tissues. The microbial load of all the samples was beyond the acceptable limit which is recommended by FSSAI. This investigation is mainly focus on the pathogenic microbes of these two edible fishes and to create awareness in disease transmission to man