Comparative studies of fungi associated with sea foods in different wetlands of Akwa Ibom State

The study investigated fungi associated with sea foods, fish (Pellonula leonensis) and crayfish (Parapandalus pritis) from different wetlands (Ibeno, Ikot Abasi, Eket and Itu) in Akwa Ibom State. Samples were collected and cultured on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and the isolated fungi were identified using molecular technique. Based on PCR amplification, sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer and phylogenetic analysis, the fungi identified were: Aspergillus niger, A. felis, A. foetidus, A. aculeatus, A. japonicus, A. flavus, A. tamari, A. terreus, Penicilium citrinum, Candida tropicalis and Trametes polyzona. The most commonly isolated fungi from fish for the four locations were A. niger (52.8) in Itu, P. citrinum (51.7) in Ibeno, A. foetidus (53.5) in Ikot Abasi and A. aculeatus (51.6) in Eket. For samples of crayfish, the most commonly isolated fungi were A. niger (25.1) in Itu and A. foetidus (20.1) in Ikot Abasi. Generally, Ibeno recorded the highest frequencies of fungal isolates while Ikot Abasi had the least. Percentage occurrence of fungi isolated from fish samples were significantly higher (p<0.05) when compared with those isolated from crayfish samples. The presence of these fungi showed that sea foods were exposed to an increasing number of virulent infectious diseases in natural populations, and fungal-like diseases can cause some of the most severe die-offs and extinctions ever witnessed in wild species thus jeopardizing food security Keywords: Fungi, Sea food, Wetland, Aspergillus, Fish.