10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 4 Issue 2 2013 (April - June) The study determines the degradation and detoxification potential of cyclodiene insecticide endosulfan by halotolerant bacterial strains. After repeated screening, lessThan i greaterThan Streptococcus agalactiae lessThan /i greaterThan a halotolerant endosulfan degrading bacterium which tolerate upto 5000ppm of endosulfan was isolated from enriched sediment of the Vellar estuary. The bacterium shows maximum growth by 3.8 (cfu 5.2×10 lessThan sup greaterThan 8 lessThan /sup greaterThan ) with pH 3.5. Degradation study reveals that the endosulfan degradation efficiency of 40.77% by GCMS analysis with 80% chloride release in the medium. The optimum growth parameters of lessThan i greaterThan S lessThan /i greaterThan . lessThan i greaterThan agalactiae lessThan /i greaterThan for endosulfan degradation was found to be pH-8, 35ËšC, dextrose as carbon source, salinity 30ppt, inoculum size of 100µl/ml or 10ml L lessThan sup greaterThan -1 lessThan /sup greaterThan broth with 2.5 × 10 lessThan sup greaterThan 6 lessThan /sup greaterThan cfu/ml under shaking condition with 15days incubation respectively. The 24 hrs LC lessThan sub greaterThan 50 lessThan /sub greaterThan of BSLA study confirm the detoxification of endosulfan by the halotolerant bacterium. The results of the present study concluded this potential strain could be useful in reclamation of any contaminated site in the tropics. V.NEELAMBARI AND D.ANNADURAI Endosulfan, Artemia salina, halotolerant, toxicity assay 586-590