Biosurfactants are amphiphilic molecules having hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties produced by various microorganisms. These molecules trigger the reduction of surface tension or interfacial tension in liquids. A biosurfactant-producing halophile was isolated from Lake Chilika, a brackish water lake of Odisha, India (19A degrees 41'39aEuro(3)N, 85A degrees 18'24aEuro(3)E). The halophile was identified as Bacillus tequilensis CH by biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequencing and assigned accession no. KC851857 by GenBank. The biosurfactant produced by B. tequilensis CH was partially characterized as a lipopeptide using thin-layer chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The minimum effective concentration of a biosurfactant for inhibition of pathogenic biofilm (Escherichia coli and Streptococcus mutans) on hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces was found to be 50 mu g ml(-1). This finding has potential for a variety of applications.