Bacterial Flora in the Digestive Tracts of Marine Fish-II

This study was carried out to examine the changes of bacterial flora present in the digestive tracts of fish, red sea bream snapper and crimson sea bream, at various intervals after giving of the diet to fish. The results are summarized as follows: The total number of bacteria, which consisted of a few specific groups in intestine, increased exponentially and reached an order of more than 108 (cells/g of contents of intestine) within 16 hours after ingestion. On the other hand, bacteria in stomach did not change as markedly in numbers, but, later than 3 hours after ingestion, had the same properties as the bacterial groups in intestine.