Occurrence of Fungi Species in Some Fisheries Products from Retail Markets in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Fish is a major source of protein that is easily prone to contamination by micro-organisms because of its composition. In this study, the fungal floral of fresh and smoke-dried fish samples from five major markets in Lagos, Nigeria were investigated. The fungi were isolated by plating out serially-diluted samples on Potato Dextrose Agar at room temperature for three to five days. A total of sixty-four fungal isolates were obtained and identified to belong to the genera, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Fusarium, Rhizopus, Mucor and Neurospora. However, yeasts and Aspergillus sp. were the most predominant organisms. This research showed that most of the fish samples from the selected markets are contaminated with fungi.