What is Vibrio?
Vibrio is a bacterial genus which is found in temperate to warm aquatic environments all over the world. The most famous species in this genus is probably V. cholerae, the bacterium which is responsible for causing cholera. Cholera is a disease which causes substantial public health problems in warm areas of the world, and the study of cholera played a critical role in the development of the germ theory of disease, which states that microorganisms are responsible for many diseases. Bacteria in this genus are Gram negative, and most require saline environments to survive, although this is not true of all species. They are facultative anaerobes, which means that they do not require oxygen to survive, and they are highly motile, with tiny flagella which allow them to remove rapidly through the environment. Depending on the species, the bacteria can be S-shaped or comma-shaped. There are several notable species within the Vibrio genus. A few species demonstrate the trait of bioluminescence