Abstract
The high nutritional value of fish makes it highly perishable because it provides favorable medium for the growth of micro-organisms after catching. In addition, they can also act as carriers of several microbial and other health hazards. Many mould growth on foods stored at low temperature is common and recurring problem. Certain molds are known to be capable of producing mycotoxins at low temperature as low as (-2 to 10 degrees) C. That encouraging us to perform this study which aimed to survey, isolation and perform different further genetic identification of fungal spoilage species of some marine fish from Saudi Arabia markets. 100 samples from 5 types of fishes; Salmon "Salmoniformes", Red sea Bream "Pagrus pagrus", Rabbitfish "Siganus rivulatus", Spanish mackerel "Scomberomorous commerson", Red mullet "Mullus surmuletus", collected from Jeddah fish markets, then prepared aseptically and plated on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) medium incubated for 3-7 days/28 +/- 2 degrees C and examined daily Macroscopically, microscopically and genetically. The results recorded 4 species of fungi; Aspergillus eucalypticola as one of (Black Aspergilli), Aspergillus oryzae as (white Aspergilli), Penicillium digitatum as (green fungi) and Byssochlamys spectabilis. This is the first report of Penicillium digitatum and Byssochlamys spectabilis in fish. Furthermore, the research identified each fungi gene cluster. More attention in fish rearing facilities, caution should be taken by consumers in preparation and applying perfect cooking in consuming fish and more education and efforts should be developed by fish farmers to avoid fishponds contamination. We recommended to further research should be done on fungal contaminations.