Abstract
The mangrove estuary of Nakama River, Okinawa is almost free from the substances produced by human activities and the area is characterized as a novel, oligotrophic estuary in Japan.
A total of 333 aerobic heterotophic bacteria were isolated from water, leaf litter and mud of the estuary. They were examined for morphological, biochemical and cultural characters. The results on 57 unit characters were analyzed by numerical taxonomic method, and 28 phenons were defined at similarity levels of 62-82%. The number of phenons increased in the order of water, leaf litter and mud. The spectra of bacterial potentials involved in organic metabolism became wider in the following order; the isolates from water, those from mud, those from old leaf litter, and those from new leaf litter.
