Lesions of the head, body, eyes, and fins colonized by gliding bacteria were observed in four marine fish species along the southern California coast and described histologically. Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tschawytscha reared in marine net‐pens had severe gill lesions colonized by gliding bacteria. Gliding bacteria with a requirement for seawater were recovered from white seabass Atractoscion nobilis, northern anchovy Engraulis mordax, and Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax. Biochemical characterization showed that the gliding bacteria belonged to the species Flexibacter maritimus, the first identification of this bacterium along the Pacific coast of North America. Criteria for presumptive identification of F. maritimus include Gram stain morphology, motility, oxidase and catalase production, agar hydrolysis, seawater requirement, Congo red reaction, and flexirubin pigment.

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