Distribution of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and related organisms in the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina and Georgia.

The distribution of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and related organisms in the Atlantic Ocean was determined during the summer of 1971 from samples collected at stations along four transects on the continental shelf off the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. No V. parahaemolyticus strains were isolated from any of the samples of seawater (surface and bottom), sediment, and plankton which were collected. A numerical taxonomy analysis of data on substrate utilization, including 154 organic compounds serving as single carbon sources, was carried out, and four groups of strains were observed. Each group showed well-separated distribution profiles from shore out to the continental shelf. That is, the groupings were observed to correspond to coastal, off-shore and intermediate distribution patterns for the strains. This study provides a useful example of the kind of ecological distributional analysis of bacteria which can be accomplished with numerical taxonomy.