ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Archives of Agriculture and Environmental Science 4(1): 96-100 (2019) https://doi.org/10.26832/24566632.2019.0401015 This content is available online at AESA Archives of Agriculture and Environmental Science Journal homepage: www.aesacademy.org e-ISSN: 2456-6632 ARTICLE HISTORY ABSTRACT Received: 30 January 2019 Revised received: 26 February 2019 Accepted: 02 March 2019 The present study aims to investigate the isolation of human pathogenic bacteria ( Escherichia coli , Salmonella spp. Shigella spp. and Vibrio spp.) and in gills, intestines, skin of fshes of Bakkhali River Estuary, Cox’s Bazar. A total of 50 fsh species (25 of Pomadasys hasta and 25 of Glossogobius giuris ) were collected from two sampling stations namely Station - 1 (Rumalia Chara) and Station - 2 (Kusturi Ghat). Bacterial analyses were made by standard methods. Total heterotrophic bacterial load of the isolates was found to be lower than the recommended public health and standard. However, the highest pathogenic bacterial ( E. coli , Salmonella spp. Shigella spp. and Vibrio spp.) count at Station - 2 might be due to the contamination of municipal and domestic wastes and discharges from small industries that constitute the main pol- lution source of this estuarine river. Skin was found to be the most preferred organs for higher bacterial load compared to intestine and lower count was recorded in gills. Further research on the microbial quality assessment should be undertaken to prevent pollution of this river estuary. ©2019 Agriculture and Environmental Science Academy Keywords Bacterial pollution Bakkhali River estuary Fish organs Pathogenic bacteria Citation of this article: Jahan, S., Jewel, M.A.S., Haque, M.A., Hasan, J., Mita, M.M., Aktar, A. and Al-Amin, M. (2019). Current status of bacterial contamination in some fsh species of Bakkhali river Estuary, Bangladesh. Archives of Agriculture and Environmental Science, 4 (1): 96-100, https://dx.doi.org/10.26832/24566632.2019.0401015 Current status of bacterial contamination in some fsh species of Bakkhali river Estuary, Bangladesh Sharmin Jahan 1 , Md. Abu Sayed Jewel 1* , Md. Ayenuddin Haque 1 , Jakia Hasan 2 , Most. Momtahena Mita 1 , Ambia Aktar 1 and Md. Al-Amin 1 1 Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Rajshahi, BANGLADESH 2 Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), Marine Fisheries & Technology Station, Cox’s Bazar, BANGLADESH * Corresponding author’s E-mail: jewelru75@yahoo.com INTRODUCTION Several researchers have reported the isolation of bacteria be- longing to different genera from fsh as an indicator of pollution study (Adewoye and Lateef, 2004; Hamed et al., 2013; Kolawole et al., 2011). Fish can harbor varieties of pathogens on or inside its body as they reside at the top of the food chain (Dahunsi et al., 2012). Fishes are extremely susceptible to bacterial contami- nation due to their soft body organs. Use of fsh as a bioindicator of bacterial pollution can provide cumulative effect of different pollutant in the ecosystem (Santos et al., 2011). The presence of FC as E. coli serves as an indicator for the possible presence of other disease-causing pathogens (Rajkumar and Sharma, 2013). Currently, coliforms and E. coli are of great importance among bacterial indicators used in water quality defnition and health risk (Giannoulis et al., 2005). Pathogens are a serious concern for managers of water resources, because excessive amounts of faecal bacteria in sewage and urban run-off have been known to indicate risk of pathogen-induced illnesses in humans. The pathogens that may occur in surface water as a result of fecal contamination vary depending on the source of the contamina- tion. Human fecal pollution may cause the greatest health risk because humans act as reservoirs for human enteric bacteria such as Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp. (McLellan and Salmore, 2003). Thus, detection and an enumeration of indicator organ- isms are of primary importance for the monitoring of sanitary and microbiological quality of water (Gunnison, 1999). The Bakkhali river estuary located at the south-eastern part of Bangladesh serves an important harbor in the economics of local fshery of Cox’s Bazar district (Hena et al., 2007). It is enriched with about 490 species of fshes (Hossain, 1971) and 19 species of shrimps/prawn (Chowdhury and Sanaullah, 1991)