Diversity of Culturable Bacteria from Iraqi Marine Water

The current study focused on the isolation and identification of bacteria from Iraqi Marine Waters. A total of 21 water samples were collected from seven stations within the Iraqi marine waters. The temperature ranged between 13-19°C. The pH values range from 7.5 to 8.2. which revealed that Iraqi maritime waters exhibit alkaline characteristics. The salinity and Total Dissolved Salts (TDS) concentrations were rather high. Their maximum concentrations were 44.1 ppt and 39.5 gm/L, respectively, while their minimum values were 27.4 ppt and 26.4 g/L. The dissolved oxygen (DO%) ranged from 2.01 to 3.37 g/L. A total of 37 bacterial isolates were collected from marine water. Their diagnosis was based on their morphological, biochemical, and molecular characteristics, utilizing the 16SrDNA gene. The Bacillus spp. exhibited a significant prevalence, with a total of 30 isolates. Three strains of Actinomycetes (Streptomyces spinoverrucosus, Pseudarthrobacter siccitolerans, and Kocuria flava) were obtained. One species was identified as Planomicrobium okeanokoites, two species were identified as P. koreense and one species was identified as Desemzia incerta.