A short-nosed tripod fish from coastal waters in Visakhapatnam is making news as researchers at Andhra University have found that it possesses anti microbial properties.

The muscle extracts of the fish were used to test its in vitro activity against human pathogens.  They studied its effect on five bacterial pathogens — Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio cholerae and Staphylococcus aureus — using the standard methods. NM Krishna and V Govinda Rao, former researchers at the department of marine living resources of Andhra University, said that since many years, bioactive compounds derived from fish has always been of great significance.

Earlier studies conducted have shown that the secondary metabolites derived from several marine organisms possessed antimicrobial and anti-cancer properties.

In the present case, freshly collected samples were identified and cleaned to remove mud and other impurities and brought to the laboratory in a frozen condition. A 50 gram chopped tissue samples were placed on the solvent methanol and acetone separately in 1:3 ratio for 24 hours at normal room temperature. They were then tested using the standard methods.

K Jyothi from the department of botany and S Geetha from the department of microbiology concluded from the research that muscle extract of the short-nosed tripod fish showed considerable inhibitory activity against Gram-negative bacteria within a short span of time in their analysis.

They said that the tripod fish can also be examined for other pharmaceutical applications. They stated that the results of the tests confirmed that the fish has a potential antimicrobial activity of many polar compounds, particularly against V. cholerae, E.coli and S.typhi.