Various readily obtainable 'marine' media from fishery residues were evaluated against a common commercial medium for their effectiveness for promoting growth of different bacteria. The microorganisms investigated (genera Pseudomonas, Vibrio, Roseobacter) are of interest to aquaculture either for their pathogenic or probiotic character. Comparisons between the media were centered on the most important kinetic parameters of the corresponding cultures, i.e., maximum biomass and maximum specific growth rate, calculated by applying two widely accepted mathematical models (logistic and Gompertz equations) to data measured both in terms of dry weights and cell numbers. The parametric estimations allowed a classification of the results that demostrated the effectiveness of all the media derived from fishery residues to meeting the proposed objectives. Growths were generally superior (up to 10 times in terms of cell numbers) to those from the common commercial medium, with the best results obtained from tuna viscera. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.