Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences (2006), 1 (2): 69-73

Abstract. This study investigates the bacterial diversity in the intestine of rock lobster Panulirus homarus during live transportation process lasting for 14h. The total viable count (TVC) in the intestine of P. homarus (Linnaeus, 1758) prior to packing (control) was 130.33 x 106 cfu ml-1. In the intestine of packed lobsters (experimental), the TVC showed an increasing trend and the recorded values were between 139.0 and 150.0 x 106 cfu ml-1 respectively during 2nd and 14th h. The bacterial species composition and their percentage occurrence were also varied much between control and experimental samples (p < 0.05), but the variation in species composition between the incubation period was statistically non significant (P>0.05). Among the species identified, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Schroeter, 1872) and Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Fujino et al., 1951) were predominantly seen and seven other less dominant species were also identified