Morphology and Molecular Identification of Dry Fish Fungus <i>Cunninghamella blakesleeana</i> from Small Indigenous Fish “Kachki” <i>Corica soborna</i> (Hamilton 1822) in Bangladesh

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted to investigate a dry fish fungus, Cunnighamella blakesleeana , which was identified from the infected part of the Corica soborna , locally named as Kachki fish. Mycelium was hyaline, often with granular content, and conidiophores were erected, with verticillate or solitary branches. Zygospores were globose, tuberculate, suspensors equal, smooth, hyaline and heterothallic. Using ITS4 and ITS5 primers, the 740 bp-long ITS region was amplified and sequenced. The ITS region sequences had reciprocal homologies of 98% to 100%. The findings showed that several species of C. blakesleeana fall into the same cluster. It has been determined by molecular data that the fungus we had studied was C. blakesleeana . The maximum mycelial growth (95.33 mm) was observed in the PDA medium, followed by the PSA medium, and the lowest growth (65.50 mm) was measured in the HPA medium in the study of the impact of culture media on the mycelial growth of C. blakesleeana . The influence of temperature on the radial mycelial growth of C. blakesleeana on PDA medium was investigated through five different temperatures. Although pH is a crucial factor in understanding the ecology of spoilage fungus, the highest mycelial growth of C. blakesleeana (88.25 mm) was seen at pH 7, followed by pH 8 and pH 6, while pH 9 was re vealed to have the lowest mycelial growth. The outcome suggested that C. blakesleeana thrived in neutral environments.