Bacteriological Examination of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Makoko Market in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Bacteriological examination was conducted on forty fresh tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)selected randomly from a market in Lagos using standard microbiological methods.The fish was carefully weighed and measured.Of the 40 fish, 16 ( 40%)weighed between 51and100 g, 12 (30%)weighed between 201and 250 g, while 4 (10%) weighed 1-50 g, 101-150 and 201-250 g respectively. Twenty(50%)ofthefishhadlengthsrangingfrom11-15cm,12(30%)within21-25cmand8(20%) within 16-20 cm length while none of the fish was less than 10 cm in length.A total of 188 isolates which belong to seven different bacterial species were recovered from the gills and intestines of the tilapia. Escherichia coli constituted 48 (25.5%), Proteusspp., 36 (19.2%), Klebsiella spp., 32 (17%), Pseudomonas spp., 20 (10.6%), Enterobacter spp., 18(9.6%), Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CONS) 18 (9.6%), while Staphylococcus aureus 16 (8.5%) was the least.The bacterial isolates were evenly distributed in the gills 92 (48.9%) and intestines, 96 (51.1%). Similar bacteria were isolated from the gills and intestines of the fish. The bacteria showed high susceptibility to all the antibiotics tested, thus are not likely to pose a public health threat