Marine waters are purported to be good sources for
interesting bacteria [5, 8]. In 1992, an expedition was
organized to study the microflora of the Gulf of Mexico
and seas near the Bimini Islands. Treatment of the seawater
samples for the isolation of aerobic spore-forming
organisms resulted in the isolation of interesting pigmented
forms. The occurrence of pigmented, aerobic
spore-forming bacteria is not common. Reports of Bacillus
from marine sources rarely mention pigmented
forms [10]. Among the known species, pigment formation
has been observed mainly among B. subtilis and B.
atrophaeus [14]. Using 16S rDNA sequencing and phenotypic
analyses, we conducted studies to understand the
phylogenetic relationship of the unusual pigmented
forms to established members of the family Bacillaceae.