Hundred pieces each of two genera of freshly harvested Nigerian Periwinkles-Tympanotonus fuscatus
var radula (a brackish water habitat) and Pachymelania aurita (a fresh water species) collected from lshiet and
Oron creeks in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria were evaluated for bacteriological quality, proximate nutrient and
mineral composition. The results showed that all the periwinkle contain unacceptable levels of bacteria with
P. aurita from Oron creeks carrying up to 1.46 x 105 cfì gG1. The level of coliform was generally high ranging
from 1.5 x 105 cfì gG1 of the total load in T. fuscatus from Oron creek to 2.8 x 105 cfì gG1 in P. aurita (from Oron
creeks). The Salmonella count ranged from 8 x 105 cfì gG1 in T. fuscatus to 1.9x106 cfu gG1 in P. aurita (from Oron
creeks). The organisms isolated from the periwinkle samples include Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris,
Salmonella paratyphi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, Micrococcus varians and Enterobacter
aerogenes. Salmonella paratyphi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Oron and Ishiet creeks respectively had
the highest rate of occurrence among the isolated bacteria, while Proteus vulgaris was the least encountered.
Proximate analysis revealed that periwinkle samples from Oron creek were nutritionally richer than that of
Ishiet creek Protein content ranged from 40.273% in T. fuscatus from Ishiet creek to 49.540% in P. aurita
from Oron creeks. The Ca, K and P content ranged from 1537.04-6753.09, 370.00-508.20 and 236.80-440.00 ìg gG1,
respectively.