Bacteriacommunities associated with healty and infected fungia corals in Pasir Akar, Redang Island, Terengganu

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.