Abstract: The twenty-two strains of luminous bacteria from the body of the fish,Gymnocypris przewalkii, in Qinghai Lake, were isolated .They were submitted to an extensive phenotypic characterization, which included the test of their ability to utilize 51 organic compounds.The results indicated that the twenty-two strains belonged in the Vibrio qinghaiensis. They could utilize many kinds of organic compounds as sole carbon source and energy source ,and accumulate PHB in their cells. Their optimal growth pH was of pH 9.0.They could grow in media without sodium ions, and the salt concentration of their optimal growth was of 1%~1.2%. So they were different from the luminous bacteria living in sea water. In addition, all of these isolated twenty-two strains could grow at 40 ℃,and previously reported strains of Vibrio qinghaiensis were only of 10% at this temperature. The morphology observation using electronic microscope showed that on the surface of the bacteria there were some peripheral tubular projections, besides a polar single flagellum, and these projections were evidently different from bacteria flagella or pili, and which were never reported previously on the other species of luminescent bacteria now.