[Hydrocarbon-oxidizing microflora from the water of the Baltic sea and Kurshsky bay polluted after a fuel oil spill].

Microbiological studies were conducted in the water of the Baltic sea and the Kurshsky bay polluted with mazut as the result of a tanker wreck in November 1981 as well as in the water of nonpolluted regions. Within the summer of 1982 and 1983, 755 bacterial strains were isolated from water samples taken at three different depths. Bacteria belonging to the genera Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus + Mycobacterium and Arthrobacter predominated in the hydrocarbon-oxidizing cenoses of the Baltic sea and the Kurshsky bay. The central part of the Baltic sea pure from mazut did not differ from the polluted regions in the qualitative composition of the hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacterial flora. Rhodococci and mycobacteria prevailed in the water near harbours, and pseudomonades, in the open waters. The greatest variety of species was found at a depth of 1 m. The proportion between the predominating genera of hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria was not stable. The state of studies conducted with the hydrocarbon-oxidizing microflora is analysed and the factors causing discrepancies are discussed. One must keep in mind that it is necessary to use a strictly elective medium and to examine cultures with a microscope many times throughout their growth in the isolation and identification of hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria. The interrelationship is analysed between the predominant genera of hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria.