PCA: Plate Count Agar, total viable bacteria, creamy/white colonies
PDA: Potato Dextrose Agar, yeasts (smooth colonies) and molds (filamentous colonies)
MacConkey Agar: Gram negative bacteria, enterobacteriaceae, lactose fermenters (pink/red) vs non-fermenters (colorless)
McBride agar: Listeria monocytogenes, small, translucent, blue-gray colonies (when viewed with Henry illumination)
MRS: de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe agar, LAB, white/creamy
XLD: Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate agar, salmonella (red with black center) and shigella (red w/o black centers)
VRBA: Violet Red Bile Agar, coliforms, red/purple colonies with red-purple halos
VRBGA: Violet Red Bile Glucose Agar, Enterobacteriaceae, red or purple
Baird-Parker: Staphylococcus aureus, black shiny colonies with clear zones/halo
Cetrimide: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, large flat colonies producing greenish blue pigment
Blood agar: hemolytic bacteria, colonies with different hemolysis: alpha: greenish, beta: clear, gamma: none
SS: Salmonella-Shigella agar, Salmonella (colorless with black centers), Shigella (colorless)
EMB: Eosin Methylene Blue agar, Gram negative enteric bacteria, lactose fermenters; E. coli (metallic green sheen), other lactose fermenters (purple), non-fermenters (colorless)
MYP: Mannitol egg Yolk Polymyxin; Bacillus cereus, large, pink to red colonies surrounded by a distinct zone of precipitation (cloudiness)
BHI: Brain Heart Infusion; Listeria monocytogenes, small, smooth, creamy white or translucent colonies
Oxford: Listeria monocytogenes, small, black colonies surrounded by a black halo
BS: Bismuth-Sulfite; Salmonella, black or metallic green colonies, often with a "rabbit eye" appearance (a black center with a clear edge) and a dark "halo" in the surrounding agar
TSC: Tryptose Sulfite Cycloserine, Clostridium perfringens, black colonies
HE: Hektoen Enteric Agar, Differentiates Salmonella and Shigella from other Enterobacteriaceae, Salmonella: Blue-green colonies with black centers (H2S production).Shigella: Green to blue-green colonies without black centers.Coliforms (like E. coli): Large, yellow to salmon-orange colonies.
PIA: Pseudomonas Isolation Agar, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, typically producing blue to blue-green, convex, and often smooth or mucoid colonies