Abstract:
The risk of food bacteria infection and microbiological quality of waters are the major
public health concern. There have been suggested that the bacterial flora of fish might
reflect the bacteriological conditions of the water and it could be a potential indicator
for pollution. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to isolate, to identify and to
characterize of bacteria isolates from freshwater fish, Labiobarbus leptocheilus.
Approximately all the bacterial isolates were able to grow on MacConkey and
Nutrient agar. Based on Gram reaction, 100% of Gram-negative bacteria obtained,
82% were rod and the rest were cocci. The morphological and biochemical
characteristics of isolates were determined by using macro, micromorphology and
nine biochemical tests. Escherichia sp. shown the highest number reflected the warm
blooded-animal-pollution level of the water. Besides Megasphaera sp., Pseudomonas
sp. and Aeromonas sp., other faecal indicator bacteria from Enterobacteriaceae family
(Shigella sp., Enterobacter sp., Klebsiella sp. and Citrobacter sp.) also detected.
However, Proteus sp. shown the lowest number because it most frequently seen in
urinary tract. The existence of coliform in fish was determined as an indication of
passage through a polluted area and these results generally agree with previous reports.
