Antibacterial activity of the mucus of mudskipper Boleophthalmus boddarti (Pallas, 1770) from Vellar Estuary

Mudskippers are known to secrete skin mucus that helps them survive in mudflats, acting aslubricant in locomotion and protecting against harmful microbes. Antibacterial activity in mucus has beendemonstrated in several fish species and the activity can be specific towards certain bacteria. Thepresent study was carried out to analyze antibacterial activity in mucus of the mudskipper,Boleophthalmus boddart against several human pathogen bacterial strains. Out of the ten pathogentested strains, eight proved to be sensitive to the antibacterial compounds contained by the mucus Thestudy showed a positive progress in the study of the mudskippers mucus but further efforts are requiredfor the purification and isolation of the active antimicrobial compounds in order to establish their possibleapplications.