Metagenome of Fermented Fish Fluid (Hukoti)

Fish decomposes in a short time. Tribal people of NE India preserve it by preparing different products such as dry fish and hukoti (fermented dry fish paste). It is a traditional fermented dry fish paste. The preferred fish is Puntius spp. The Moran-Motok community of Assam prepares it by keeping clean, dressed fish in an inverted earthen pot/ bamboo cane corcked with straw for 3 to 4 days under soil, allowing for spontaneous fermentation. During fermentation, a fluid is licked from the pot/ cane, which was collected for metagenomic analysis. Metagenomic analysis was also attempted for the edible preserved part (hukoti paste), which didn't pass the quality check, indicating little or no microbial load.