The microbial diversity in the intestine of laboratory reared and wild spiny lobster Panulirus versicolor (Latreille, 1804) from Andaman Island was evaluated. In the wild lobsters, Entero-bactericeae was 67%,whereas in the laboratory grown lobsters Vibrionaceae family was dominant (71%). The hyper-enzyme producing proteolytic bacterial species ranged from 21 to 25 × 106 CFU ml-1 in the foregut of lab rearedlobsters compared to 13–18 ×102 CFU ml-1 in wild lobsters. The hyper-enzyme producing cellulolytic bacteria, antimicrobial synthesizing bacteria and fungi were domin ant in the wild P. versicolor. The hyper-enzyme producing bacteria and antimicrobial synthesizing bacteria would be valuable for the production of artificial feed for the laboratory reared aquatic animals.

Panulirus versicolor, microbial diversity, proteolytic bacteria, cellulolytic bacteria, probiotic bacteria