Bacterial flora of the digestive tract of specimens of Notothenia neglecta caught in Caleta Potter (South Shetland Archipelago, Antarctica)
MacCormack, W.P.; Fraile, E.R.
Revista Argentina de Microbiologia 23(3): 160-165
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0325-7541 PMID: 1815278 Document Number: 376360
A qualitative and quantitative study of the predominant heterotrophic bacterial flora in the stomach and intestine of the Antarctic fish Notothenia neglecta was carried out: 10 newly caught specimens (Potter cove, King George Island, South Shetland Islands) were analyzed. The cultures were made under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The stomach flora showed variable results between samples which are probably related to the flora ingested with food. The gut flora was composed almost exclusively of Vibrio spp. These results are in agreement with those attributing to Vibrio the nature of indigenous flora of the intestine of marine teleosts and show that this flora had not changed, not even during the adaptation of these fish to the extreme Antarctic environmental conditions.