Diversity of Marine Fungi in Eastern Thailand

Abstract

An investigation on the diversity of marine fungi was carried out by isolating fungi from twigs collected from several beaches in Chanthaburi, Rayong and Chon Buri provinces. Each fungus was directly isolated on half strength potato dextrose agar with 70% sea water. A total of 152 marine fungal isolates were found, comprising 26 genera and 31 species: Algialus parvus, Antennospora quadricornuta, Arenariomyces trifurcatus, Camerosporium sp., Clavatospora bulbosa, Cladobotryum sp., Corollospora pulchella, Dactylospora haliotrepha, Didymosphaeria maritime, Emericella nidulans, E. variecolor, Eurotium sp., Halosphaeria quadricornuta, H. quadriremis, H. hamata, Herpotrichella sp., Kallichroma tethys, Lulworthia grandispora, Lulworthia sp., Marinosphaera mangrovel, Nais inornata, Pestalotia sp., Pleospora sp., Pontoponae sp., Savoryella paucispora, Spirodesmium eupatoriicola, Torpedospora radiata, Varicosporina ramulosa, Verruculina enalia, Zalerion varium and an unidentified sp.1. Pure cultures are being maintained in a culture collection at the Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kasetsart University, Bangkok for further study on enzyme and secondary metabolites, which could be very useful in agriculture and medicine.