Eighty regional strains of Vibrio isolated from the seasonally cold waters of coastal Newfoundland, and a number of Vibrio reference cultures, were studied. The regional strains had been isolated from the brown macroalga Alaria esculenta and the giant scallop Placopecten magellanicus and were known to grow at 4 degrees C. The strains were grouped according to their arginine-dihydrolase reactions and examined by numerical analysis. According to phenotypic properties the arginine-dihydrolase positive strains closely resembled Vibrio splendidus biovar I. Most clusters of the arginine-dihydrolase negative strains appeared to be unique but the closest phenotypic resemblance among some strains was with Vibrio ordalii. Some strains were examined using the random amplified polymorphic DNA polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) technique for fingerprinting and it was shown that the regional strains were significantly different from either V. splendidus biovar I or V. ordalii. Generally, the strains from seaweed clustered separately from those that were from scallops. Strains in some clusters, especially those from the seaweed, were able to utilize most of the compounds that were tested as sole sources of carbon and energy.