Effects of density on food utilization and surfacing behaviour in the obligatory air-breathing fish Channa striatus

Numbers of fungi were determined in water and sediment samples from a virgin salt-fresh water transect at North Point, James Bay. Fungal densities in the water samples showed an approximately linear increase from 28–70 CFU/100 ml, at the salt water extremity of the transect, to 13–16,000 CFU/100 ml at the freshwater extremity. Sediment fungal densities were also higher in the inland samples. There was no apparent difference between the numbers of fungi estimated using enumeration media prepared with distilled or saline water. Data are discussed in relation to the physical, chemical and organic status of the water, the nature of the surrounding vegetation and possible sources of the enumerated fungi.