Vibrio ordalii, the causative agent of atypical vibriosis, is a Gram-negative, motile, rod-shaped bacterium that severely affects the salmonid aquaculture industry. V. ordalii has been biochemically, antigenically and genetically characterized. However, studies on the survival behaviour of this bacterium in aquatic environments are scarce, and there is no information regarding its disease transmission and infectious abilities outside of the fish host or regarding water as a possible reservoir. The present study investigated the survival behaviour of V. ordalii Vo-LM-06 and Vo-LM-18 in sterile and non-sterile seawater microcosms. After a year in sterile seawater without nutrients, 1% of both V. ordalii strains survived (~10(3) colony-forming units ml(-1)), and long-term maintenance did not affect bacterial biochemical or genetic properties. Additionally, V. ordalii maintained for 60 d in sterile seawater remained infective in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. However, after 2 d of natural seawater exposure, this bacterium became non-culturable, indicating that autochthonous microbiota may play an important role in survival. Recuperation assays that added fresh medium to non-sterile microcosms did not favour V. ordalii recovery on solid media. Our results contribute towards a better understanding of V. ordalii survival behaviour in seawater ecosystems.