The composition of the bacterial flora of flatfish, both fresh and stored at 2°C, differed clearly according to the parts of the fish. The floras from the skin of the fish were composed mainly of Pseudomonas and Achromobacter, while the main constituents of the floras from the gills, guts and muscle samples were Vibrio and Aeromonas.
An appreciable number of the Vibrio and Aeromonas islated from the stored flat fish showed poor growth at 20°C, and some strains failed to grow at 20°C even after serial subcultures at 10°C.