Bacteriological study of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) gonads associated with seawater physico-chemistry and environmental factors in the Mediterranean Sea of Morocco

Abstract

The preservation of marine ecosystems and the safety of harvested seafood have elicited global concern. In this study, we evaluated bacterial contamination levels in sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus gonads with relation to environmental factors and the physicochemical parameters of seawater. This investigation aimed to assess bacterial contamination levels of Total Aerobic Mesophilic Bacteria (TAMB), Enterobacteriaceae (ETB), Fecal Coliforms (FC), Staphylococcus aureus (STAPH), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Salmonella spp. (SALM) in sea urchin gonads collected from the Tangier coast between December 2020 and November 2021, per Moroccan regulations (NM 08.7.040). Twenty-one physicochemical, environmental, and biological parameters were assessed in 360 samples of P. lividus from four seasons. The results of these parameters were processed using multivariate statistical approaches. It was found that almost all biological parameters had concentrations below Moroccan regulatory limits, except for FC in July (173 CFU/g). Furthermore, E. coli and SALM were absent. Principal component analysis (PCA) demonstrated that the F1 component was associated with a combination of environmental, microbiological, and anthropogenic factors. These associations contributed to 59.02% of all data variations and were strongly influenced by seasonality. The F2 component contributed to 26.33% of all data variations. These findings may aid decision-makers in the protection of public health in sensitive locations such as the Tangier coast in northern Morocco.