Bacterial flora of the gut of the African snakehead, Channa obscura (Pisces: Channidae)

A qualitative and quantitative investigation of the bacterial flora of the gut of the African snakehead, Channa obscura was undertaken. The types of bacteria isolated from the different parts of the gut of C. obscura include Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Citrobacter and Proteus. The coliform (Escherichia coli, Enterobacter) and some other Enterobacteriaceae such as Salmonella were also present. The stomach and intestine were found to have a preponderance of Pseudomonas and Vibrio species. Klebsiella sp. and Bacillus sp. (only in the pyloric caeca) were also isolated. On the whole, the correlation coefficients of the two incubation temperatures showed a high statistical significance. Thus the bacterial load of the gut of C. obscura has been shown as a function of temperature