FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82, NO. 2 



TABLE 2.— Number of isolates and percentage of bacterial genera recovered from elasmobranch and 



osteichthyan fish and water of the Gulf of Mexico. 



isolate each of Arthrobacter, Bacillus, and Strep- 

 tococcus) represented 21% of the total. In a study of 

 intestinal material from five species of sharks 

 caught in the Indian Ocean, 10 isolates of Bacillus 

 were found, and 1 each of Corynebacterium, Al- 

 caligenes, Vibrio, Spirillum, and Xanthomonas; 

 one animal showed no bacteria (Johnson et al. 

 1968). 



No data are available in the literature on bacte- 

 rial types recovered from shark gills, although the 

 gills and skin of North Sea skates have been 

 studied (Liston 1957). Gram negative bacteria 

 were dominant with Pseudomonas most common 

 on both skin and gills. Qualitative observations of 

 skin agreed with the present data (Table 2), but 

 skate gills showed a much higher percentage of 

 Pseudomonas (60%) compared with this study 

 (5%). The other Gram negative bacteria from 

 skate gills were also found in this study (Table 2). 



Hemolytic bacteria were isolated from the teeth 

 of sharks in the present study. Streptococcus spp. 

 were recovered from teeth of shovelhead, Sphyrna 

 tiburo, and sand tiger, Odontaspis taurus, sharks; 

 Staphylococcus spp. were found on the teeth of a 

 cownose ray, Rhinoptera bonasus; and Providencia 

 rettgeri was recovered from teeth of two 

 shovelhead sharks. All of these bacteria were from 

 sharks taken in the Gulf of Mexico except for the 

 sand tiger shark which was caught off New Jersey 

 and had been in captivity for only 3 d. In addition, 

 several hemolytic species of Vibrio have been iso- 

 lated recently from the teeth of a white shark, 



Carcharodon carcharias, caught off Block Island, 

 R.I. (Buck et al. unpubl. data 4 ). 



Hemolytic bacteria were found in the mouths of 

 sharks from South African waters, and it was 

 suggested that bacterial infections of bites could 

 have been a contributing factor in the deaths of 

 victims (Davies 1960). The hemolytic bacterium 

 recovered from teeth of Carcharhinus zambezensis 

 (leucas?) was described as a "Paracolon bacillus" 

 (Davies and Campbell 1962). 



The present observations not only confirm the 

 occurrence of hemolytic organisms on teeth of 

 sharks in nature but also extend these types to 

 include bacteria not reported previously from 

 sharks and the number of species of sharks which 

 harbor them. They suggest that shark bites could 

 possibly introduce potentially pathogenic bacteria 

 into the tissues of victims. 



A variety of enteric bacteria was found as- 

 sociated with the intestinal contents and occa- 

 sionally the teeth of elasmobranchs; none were 

 recovered from the gills or skin. These data are 

 presented in Table 3. Three cultures only, all 

 Shigella species, were isolated from bony fish. One 

 was found in pinfish, Lagodon rhomboides, intes- 

 tine, and two strains were isolated from a black 

 drum, Pogonias cromis — one on the gills and the 

 other from intestinal contents. 



4 Buck, J. D., S. Spotte, and J. J. Gadbaw, Jr. Manuscr. in 

 prep. Bacteriology of the teeth from "Jaws": Medical implica- 

 tions for shark-bite victims. 



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