Yeasts in Marine Environments 335 



and were at a maximum following periods of heavy bathing 

 activity. Lowest counts were obtained during periods of inclement 

 cool weather. Unequivocal evidence of human contamination was 

 the repeated isolation of the recognized pathogenic form, C. 

 albicans. Laboratory studies showed that strains of C. albicans 

 and C. stellaioidea isolated from human clinical material were 

 able to survive in sea water for more than fourteen days. 



These findings suggest that certain yeasts, which are nor- 

 mally associated with terrestrial sources, are probably pollution 

 organisms when occurring in marine locales. Considerably more 

 extensive and detailed yeast speciation studies of both polluted 

 and unpolluted sea water areas are mandatory before more def- 

 inite conclusions can be drawn. Novozhilova (15) identified 

 525 cultures from the Black and Okhotsk Seas and the Pacific 

 Ocean, however, she limited herself to the identification of yeasts 

 which do not form pseudo-mycelium. In such a study, Candida 

 or Trichosporon species could have been confounded with 

 Torulopsis or not identified. Bhat and Kachwalla (3) found that 

 C. tropicalis represented one-third of the isolates obtained from 

 water samples collected two to six miles off the coast of Bombay. 

 If the degree of pollution in that area of the Indian Ocean were 

 ignored there still remains the possibility that the existence of 

 C. tropicalis may be dependent on the water temperature rather 

 than the factor of pollution per se. Bisca^aie Bay and the Indian 

 Ocean off Bombay are warm, sub-tropical waters, as compared 

 with the warm, temperate zone of the Pacific near La Jolla, Cali- 

 fornia. These considerations, however, fail to account for the 

 absence of tins organism in the waiTn waters of the Gulf Stream. 



The depth within the sediment of an active yeast population 

 is probably limited by the availability of oxygen for growth pro- 

 cesses (Table 2). Yeasts were confined to the upper 2 cms of a 

 sediment core obtained in the Gulf Stream at a water depth of 

 540 meters ( 5 ) . However, in the Biscayne Bay estuary yeasts were 

 found at sediment depths of 9 cm. The presence of yeasts at 

 slightly greater depths within estuarian sediments is undoubtedly 

 due to the considerable wave agitation and rapid settling of 

 sediment that is characteristic of estuarian and other shallow 

 water areas. 



