Hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria in Cuddalore fishing harbour waters, east coast of India

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to elucidate the occurrence of the hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria in Cuddalore fishing harbour waters with relation to the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons. Enumeration of total heterotrophic (THB) and hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (HB) was carried out over a period of 12 months (October 2001-September 2002) in water and sediment samples. THB were miximum (2.13×107 CFU/ml and 2.79×108 CFU/g) in December, while minimum values (1.12×103 CFU/ml and 1.18×105 CFU/g) were recorded in water and sediment samples in May. On the contrary HB was maximum (2.84×103 CFU/ml and 2.60×105 CFU/g) in May and minimum (1.00×102 CFU/ml and 1.59×103 CFU/g) in December. 188 Hydrocarbonoclastic bacterial colonies were isolated and identified up to the species level. These isolates represented 10 genera and 14 species. Of these 73 were Pseudomonas (38.8%) and interestingly, Pseudomonas aeruginosa accounted for 64.3% of total Pseudomonas isolates. The maximum concentration of hydrocarbons was observed in May (56.06 μg/l and 63.25 μg/g) and ninimum was in December (18.69 μg/l and 24.23 μg/g) in water and sediment respectively. The present study revealed that the abundance of hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria depends on the availability of hydrocarbons in a polluted environment. Copyright © Enviromedia.