Vibrio spp.

Vibrio spp. Gram Negative

Enriched Sample in peptone water
Incubate for 37˚C for 6h
For fresh fish sample, incubate 41.5˚C for 6hrs
Culture into Thiosulphate Citrate Bile salt Sucrose (TCBS) agar
Culture into Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate polymixin Sucrose (SDS) agar
Incubate 37˚C for 24hrs


Positive Vibrio chlorae 01 colonies are Yellow (2-3mm) (TCBS)
Positive Vibrio parahaemolyticus colonies are Green (2-3mm) (TCBS)

Do a colony count

Positive Vibrio cholerae 01 colonies are Yellow (2-3mm) with halo (SDS)
· Positive Vibrio parahaemolyticus colonies are purple or green (2-3mm) (SDS)


Do a Stab on to TCBS agar
Do an oxidase test

Vibrio chlorae 01 will give yellow TCBS agar and a positive oxidase test
Vibrio parahaemolyticus will give TCBS agar green colour and oxidase test positive

Thiosulphate Citrate Bile salt Sucrose TCBS
· Bile salts suppresses G+ growth
· Sucrose differentiates Vibrio fermentor( V. cholerae) from non fermentor (V. parahaemolyticus)

Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate polymixin Sucrose (SDS) agar
Polymixin antibiotic, inhibits other microorganism’s growth
Sucrose differentiates Vibrio fermentor(V. cholerae) from non fermentor (V. parahaemolyticus)


For more information on Culture techniques, please refer to Food Microbiology: A Laboratory Manual, 2003,Ahmed E. Yousef, Carolyn Carlstron, John Wiley& Sons Inc., N.J , USA and Practical Food Microbiology 3rd Edition, 2003,D. Roberts& M. Greenwood, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford , UK

For Information on a detail Biochemical test and theories, please refer to Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers, 2nd edition, Thomas J. Montville and Karl R. Mathews, 2001 ASM press , Washington, USA