Bacteriological investigations in the Persian Gulf

Their proportion of the saprophytic flora becomes less from south to north. Most of the water samples also contained pigmented bacteria. On freshwater medium, relatively few bacteria were able to develop.

The proportion of these non-halophilic forms amounted up to 7 % (average about 1 %) of the total saprophytic count, in 22 samples examined. In this group the pigmented forms played a very large role. A comparison of the distribution of saprophytic bacteria in the eastern Persian Gulf with that in other inland seas such as the North Sea and the Baltic Sea shows, that the saprophytic counts in the subtropical Persian Gulf (arid region) lie clearly below those in corresponding sea areas of the temperate zones (humid region).

This is to be attributed above all to the greater flow of organic nutrients into the latter.