Abstract
The diversity of fungi in tiger shrimp P. monodon culture pond sediments was investigated. The culture pond types sampled were aged
(>8 years), moderately aged (3 years) and new (<1 year); the former was situated in the state of Perak and the latter two in Malacca,
Malaysia. Three sampling periods were selected, namely during stock (DS), middle of culture (MC) and after harvest (AH). Fungal
propagules were found in sediment samples for all 3 sampling periods. Distribution of fungi was highest during MC for the aged pond
but for the moderately aged and new ponds, the highest was at AH. The overall fungal distributions were found to increase with the
increased culture period probably due to organic load during culture activities. The genus Aspergillus was the dominant group
followed by Penicillium in shrimp pond sediments.
