THE VENEZUELAN SALT-FISH INDUSTRIES 



f « 



>i 



V* sir 





\. 





v> ^ 



(jIGURE 1 .--PH0T0MICRCX5RAPH OF REDDEN- ^^nGURE 2 . --PHOTOMI CROGRAPH OF REDDEN- 

 ING BACTERIA (rods) ISOLATED FROM VENE- I NG BACTERIA (cOCCI AND RODS) ISOLATED 

 ZUELAN SOLAR SEA-SAlTS. GROWN IN 5 PER- FROM FISH CURED WITH VENEZUELAN SALT. GROWN 

 CENT CODFISH AGAR AT 42°C FOR 2 DAYS. IN NUTRIENT AGAR CONTAINING 5 PERCENT SALT 

 (aPPROX. X1140) AT 4-20c FOR 2 DAYS. (aPPROX. XI 140) 



Isolation of Organlam 



Attempts to culture the organism in barracuda fish agar containing 20 percent salt 

 were unsuccessful. Codfish agar was finally used satisfactorily for the isolation of the 

 organism. It was prepared by boiling one pound of dry-salted codfish in one liter of dis- 

 tilled water for one hour, filtering, adding 15 grams agar and ad^lusting the pH to 7.0.. 

 The final salt concentration of the media was approximately 5 percent. The salt samples 

 were ground in sterile mortars, suitable dilutions prepared and one milliliter portions 

 transferred to Petri dishes. Dilution blanks were made of distilled water containing 5 

 percent sterile salt. The codfish agar was then added and the plates incubated at 42°C. 

 for 48 hours. 



Most of the colonies were of a white or cream color: a few were pinkish. Subcultures 

 of the latter ones were made on codfish agar slants until pure pigmented cultures were ob- 

 tained. Hlscroscoplcal examination of stained cultures revealed rods of varying sizes and 

 admixed with a few coccold cells, (Figure r.) 



It was subsequently determined that the organism grew well on standard nutrient agar 

 containing 5 percent salt. This medium was therefore used interchangeably with codfish 

 agar in later studies. 



The organism was isolated from various samples of solar sea-salts from Venezuela, name- 

 ly, "Coche", "Arraya", "Los Roques" and "La Orchilla", The salt samples were generally 

 of a white or cream color except "Los Roques" which was pink. Total bacterial counts (Table 

 1) were low and varied somewhat. 



Table 1 - Total Bacterial Count of Venezuelan Salts After Incubation in Codfish-Agar 



Media for IS Hours at h2°C 



1 /Average of two counts; all colonies were white or cream except those from "Coche" and "Los 

 Roques" in which some pink colonies developed. 



68 



