Abstract

ACTIVITY OF DIGESTIVE ENZYMES AND INTESTINAL MICROFLORA IN THE MARINE GASTROPOD FUSINUS NICOBARICUS (ROEDING, 1798)

P. Subavathy* and R. D. Thilaga

Abstract

The seas and oceans, which cover 70% of the world‟s surface, are one of the man‟s great hopes for future food supplies. There are about 30 million species of living organisms estimated on earth. Marine molluscs are commercially and ecologically valuable species. Virtually every possible feeding mode is found in gastropods and the morphology and physiology of the digestive system vary widely. Life is an intricate meshwork involving a perfect co-ordination of a vast majority of chemical reactions. The digestive enzymes and the extracellular enzymes of the associated microbes inside the tract of alimentary canal play an important role in the digestion of food in prosobranch gastropoda. It may be intermittently or permanently populated by micro organisms from its environment that could be beneficial or pathogenic in their influence.

Keywords: Mollusc, Fusinus nicobaricus, digestive enzymes, gut microflora