Several Vibrio spp. cause disease in marine fish populations, both wild and cultured. The most common disease, vibriosis, is caused by V. anguillarum. However, increase in the intensity of mariculture, combined with continuing improvements in bacterial systematics, expands the list of Vibrio spp. that cause fish disease. The bacterial pathogens, species of fish affected, virulence mechanisms, and disease treatment and prevention are included as topics of emphasis in this review, * + = 90% of all strains give a positive reaction, (+) = weak and/or delayed positive,-= 90 % of all strains are negative, V = variable reactions, A = acid, AG = acid + gas, R = resistant, S = sensitive; test procedures are given by West & Colwell (1984}. ** arginine dihydrolase, lysine and ornithine decarboxylase The natural habitat of Vibrio spp. is estuarine and marine water and sediment. Vibrios often occur in association with invertebrate and vertebrate animal surfaces and internal organs (Huq et al., 1983; Grimes et al, 1984b}, Stress can compromise the animal host, resulting in a commensal species switching to pathogenicity as the mode of interaction (Grimes et al., 1984c). * Formerly 1/. anguillarum biovar II Rodgers (1981) found V. alginolyticus to be a secondary invader of "red spot", a disease caused by V. "anguillarum. Gauthier & Clement (1979) observed a streptomycin-resistant strain of V. alginolyticus to be present not only in sediment but also water, when the water temperature exceeded 16 °C. However, food chain transmission was not observed when reconstructed marine food chains were studied in the laboratory (Gauthier & Clement, 1979). It is well established that V. alginolyticus can colonize the human gut (Sakazaki et al., 1963). In fact, Hiratsuka et al. (1980) observed the cause of acute enterocolitis in a patient who consumed trout roe contaminated with the same bacteria to be V. alginolyticus. More frequently, V. alginolyticus is associated with skin infections (Blake et al., 1980), such as conjunctivitis and stump ulcer cases described by Schmidt et al. (1979). Even though Blake et al. (1980) reported that little work has been done on virulence mechanisms, it is probable, based on available evidence, that the collagenase and several extracellular proteases produced by V, alginolyticus (Long et al., 1981) participate in the invasion of fish and human skin. Vibrio anguillarum This vibrio, the first recognized to be a fish pathogen, includes strains capable of utilizing arginine and tolerant of 6 % NaC1; some strains tolerate 8 % salt and others are capable of growth in the presence of trace amounts of salt, i.e., they are reported to grow