Occurrence of bacteria in the buccal cavity, gill and skin of <i>Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus</i>, <I>Sardinella maderensis</i>, and <i>Mugil cephalus</i> from Lagos lagoon Nigeria

Abstract

Morphometric characteristics of Chrysicthys nigrodigitatus, Sardinella maderensis and Mugil cephalus species collected from Lagos lagoon were studied. Swab samples were taken from the gills, buccal cavity andskin of the three fish species. The cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics of the bacterial isolates was done. The morphometric characteristics revealed that there is significant difference between theweight of Chrysicthys nigrodigitatus (404.00 ± 11.28 g), Sardinella maderensis (173.68 ± 2.69 g) and Mugil cephalus (87.50 ± 4.11 g). Chrysicthys nigrodigitatus had the highest count occurring in the buccal cavity (2.97 x 104 cfu/ml) the bacteria count ranged from 2.0 × 103 -2.90 × 104, 1.64 ×104-2.99 × 104 and 1.1 × 103 -2.56 × 104cfu/ml in the skin, buccal cavity and gill of Chrysicthys nigrodigitatus respectively; 1.6 × 103 -2.78 × 104, 1.5 × 103 -2.95 × 104 and 1.1 × 103 -2.71 × 104 in the skin, buccal cavity and gill of Sardinella maderensis respectively; 5.7 × 103 -2.58 × 104, 6.3 × 103 -2.83 × 104, 2.1 × 103 - 2.78 × 104 in the skin, buccal cavity and gill of Mugil cephalus respectively. Bacteria counts were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the skin of Chrysicthys nigrodigitatus (2.0 × 105 -2.90 × 104 P<0.05). Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella aereus,Escherichia coli, Enterobacter spp Bacillus spp, Alcaligen spp, Citrobacter spp, Shigella spp, Klebsiella spp, Micrococcus spp, Serratia spp, Proteus spp, Salmonella spp, Streptococcus spp, Enterobacter aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus epidermis were isolated and identified from the three fish sample. The bacteria organisms isolated from the fish were pathogenic and of public health importance.