Research Article
Enteroccoccus in Water, Sediment and Clams in a Tropical Environment,Maracaibo Lake, Venezuela
Marynes Montiel*, Ricardo Silva, Jesús Núñez, Félix Morales, Hector Severeyn and Yajaira GarcíaUniversity of Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela
- Corresponding Author:
- Marynes Montiel
University of Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Tel: 2617416786
Fax: 2617483724
E-mail: montielmarynes@gmail.com
Received Date: September 04, 2013; Accepted Date: September 23, 2013; Published Date: September 28, 2013
Citation: Montiel M, Silva R, Núñez J, Morales F, Severeyn H, et al. (2013) Enteroccoccus in Water, Sediment and Clams in a Tropical Environment, Maracaibo Lake, Venezuela. J Marine Sci Res Dev 3:133. doi: 10.4172/2155-9910.1000133
Copyright: © 2013 Montiel M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The genus Enterococcus has widespread extra enteric sources and reservoirs. It has been suggested that coastal and Great Lakes States adopt enterococci as an alternative indicator for the monitoring of recreational water quality. Limited information, however, is available about the presence of enterococci in Lake Maracaibo, which is an important estuary in Venezuela, with the income and interchange of the Caribbean Sea, and is used by the people for recreational purposes and the culture of marine organisms. In this study, the density and species composition of enterococci in sediment, clams and water were examined at Lake Maracaibo.Enterococci was enumerated by the Most Probable Number Technique (MPN), and isolated by standard methods. Results obtained by MPN analyses indicated that enterococci were present in all samples, and their densities were generally higher in clams than sediment and water with means of 1.0x106 MPN/100 g, 2.1x103 MPN/100 g, and 6.0x101 MPN/100 ml, respectively. Dominant Enterococcus species were E. faecalis (65%), E. casseliflavus (20%), E. sanguinicola (5%), E. faecium (5%), and unidentified strains (5%). Results suggest that some enterococci are able to persist in Lake Maracaibo, especially in clams and sediment, for a prolonged amount of time after being introduced.
