General Information: This strain was isolated from a pinecone fish, Monocentris japonica, light-emitting organs in Japan. This genus is abundant in marine or freshwater environments such as estuaries, brackish ponds, or coastal areas; regions that provide an important reservoir for the organism in between outbreaks of the disease. Vibrio can affect shellfish, finfish, and other marine animals and a number of species are pathogenic for humans. This organism is found in marine environments and was originally named by Bernard Fischer during a sea voyage in the 1800s. It is a symbiont in fish and squids and is responsible for light generation in those organisms, which use it as a defense mechanism to avoid predators.