a later and more important source of bacteria contamination is the use of Artemia nauplii (Yu´fera et al., 1984). Although this point has not been pursued, we at least know that SK-05 becomes established in an Artemia culture, that it is not pathogenic to Artemia nauplii and that it might actually promote its growth (Rico-Mora and Voltolina, 1995a). For these reasons, we feel that a first inoculum of SK-05 via a S. costatum culture, possibly reinforced