Surajit Das, P.S. Lyla and S. Ajn-mi Khan
Abstract
Benthic filamentous marine fungal population in the continental slope of Bay of Bengal was studied. The sediment samples were obtained from 33 stations between 10036' N - 20°01'N and 79°59' E - 87°30 E along 11 transects at 3 different depths i.e. ca. 200m, 500m, 1000m in each transect on Bay of Bengal. Filamentous fungal population ranged from 517 to 59.51 CFU g-' dry weight sediment. A total of 90 fungal cultures isolated solated and screened for pectinolvtic activity to understand their role in the biogeochemical cycle. Of all the isolates tested (85 isolates) 72.94% isolates showed pectinolytic activity. Six pectinolytic fungal genera were recorded and among them Aspergillus was the dominating genus (35.29%) followed by Penicillium (14.11%).