In an attempt to develop a method for rapid and accurate identification of six Vibrio species that are clinically important and most frequently detected in Korea, 16S rDNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of Vibrio type strains, as well as environmental isolates obtained from the Korean coastal area, was analyzed using ten restriction endonucleases. Digestion of the 16S rDNA fragments amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the enzymes gave rise to 2~6 restriction patterns for each digestion for 47 Vibrio strains and isolates. An additional 2~3 restriction patterns were observed for five reference species, including Escherichia coli, Aeromonas hydrophila, A. salmonicida, Photobacterium phosphoreum, and Plesiomonas shigelloides. A genetic distance tree based on RFLP of the bacterial species correlated well with that based on 16S rDNA sequences. The very small 16S rDNA sequence difference (0.1%) between V. alginolyticus and V. parahaemolyticus was resolved clearly by RFLP with a genetic distance of more than 2%. RFLP variation within a species was also detected in the cases of V. parahaemolyticus, V. proteolyticus, and V. vulnificus. According to the RFLP analysis, six Vibrio and five reference species were assigned to 12 genotypes. Using three restriction endonucleases to analyze RFLP proved sufficient to identify the six pathogenic Vibrio species.