Abstract:
It has been suggested that bacteria were associated with coral diseases since 1970s. This
study was to isolate and identify the bacteria associated with fungia corals in Pasir Akar,
Redang Island, Terengganu. Bacteria samples were collected from three healthy and an
infected fungia corals at ten meter depth. Infected coral were taken based on the
discoloration characteristic of the coral. Bacteria samples were brought back to the
laboratory in Universiti Malaysia Terengganu for Gram staining, morphological
characterization, biochemical tests and identification. The identification of the bacteria
was made based on the Bergey's Manual® of Determinative Bacteriology. Nine out of the
24 bacteria samples cultured were Gram-negative bacteria and 15 samples were Grampositive
bacteria. The bacteria communities were different between the healthy fungia
corals and the infected fungia corals. Based on identification, bacteria isolated from
healthy corals were classified into 3 categories: Proteobacteria, Bacilli and unknown.
Suggested identifications of the bacteria isolated from infected coral were Deinobacter
sp., Deinococcus sp., Micrococcus sp. and Staphylococcus sp.
