Accumulation of heterotrophic bacteria by mussels and mytilasters in North-western Black Sea coastal areas

Abstract

The results of studying accumulation of heterotrophic bacteria from sea water by mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819) and mytilasters Mytilaster lineatus (Gmelin, 1798) from biofouling on concrete traverses in two Odessa Coast beach areas (Lanzheron Cape, North-western part of Black Sea, Ukraine), are presented. It has been shown, that bacterial contamination of the both mollusks in the natural conditions may vary in wide ranges: from 1.5×103 до 2.2×105 colony formed units (CFU) in 1 g of animal soft body for mussels and from 4.5×103 to 2.5×105 CFU/g for mytilasters. The means for period spring-autumn 2013–2014 was (5.02±1.43)×104 and (6.15±1.75)×104 CFU/g, correspondingly. The accumulation of bacterial cells by mollusks in marine areas was primarily dependent on the level of bacterial contamination in seawater, as well as its salinity.

Keywords

• mussel
• mytilaster
• periphyton settlements
• bacteriological characteristics of mollusks
• Odessa gulf
• North-western part of Black Sea
• Ukraine