Experiments involving temperature range for growth (4–58 uC), salt concentration tolerance (5–15 %, w/v) and anaerobic growth were conducted using tryptone-glucose-yeast extract (TGY) media (5.0 g tryptone, 5.0 g yeast extract, 1.0 g glucose, 1.0 g K2HPO4, 1 l ddH20; pH 7.0). All other phenotypic analyses were conducted according to Gordon et al. (1973). Tests for the production of acid from various carbohydrates were conducted using the API CH 50 system (bioMe ́rieux), following the manufacturer’s suggested protocol. Lipopeptide biomarker profiles were determined by using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) using the method of Price et al. (2007) as follows. MALDI-TOF mass spectra were acquired on a Bruker-Daltonic Omniflex instrument operating in reflecton mode. Ion source 1 was set to 19.0 kV and source 2 to 14.0 kV, with lens and reflector voltages of 9.20 and 20.00 kV, respectively. Aqueous samples were co-crystallized with 2,5-dihydrobenzoic acid matrix (10 mg ml21 in acetonitrile) on a Bruker-Daltonics 49-place target. The laser output was at 337.1 nm, typically at 60 % of 150 ́ıJ maximum output, and 80 shots were accumulated. A 200 ns pulsed ion extraction was used with matrix suppression up to 200 Da. The instrument was calibrated externally on a dp series of malto-oligosaccharides.