Shewanella haliotis, a species of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic bacteria, was first isolated from the gut microflora of abalones (large edible sea snails) collected from the ocean near Yeosu, South Korea, by Kim et al. in 2007. Further studies showed the cells to be catalase- and oxidase-positive. The species epithet haliotis is a reference to the genus name of abalones, Haliotis. The genus Shewanella had been previously named in 1985 by MacDonell and Colwell in honor of Scottish microbiologist James M. Shewan, for his work in fisheries microbiology.