A novel bacterial strain, STB1, was isolated from a commercial sea bass hatchery and found to display high heterotrophic ammonium removal characteristics at different concentrations of ammonium (NH4+-N). The species identity of STB1 was determined via 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis to be Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. We evaluated ammonium removal characteristics of STB1 at varying ammonium concentrations, and observed that STB1 can almost completely remove ammonium at low (50 mg l -1), and medium (100 mg l -1) concentrations within 72 h, while 45% ammonium removal was observed at a higher concentration (210 mg l -1) during the same period. Trace amount of the metabolized ammonium was converted to nitrite or nitrate and 22.16% of total nitrogen was incorporated into cell biomass, while 4.34% of total nitrogen was initially incorporated into cell biomass and subsequently released to the supernatant fraction in the 100 mg l -1 sample. Most of the remaining conversion products are expected to be gaseous denitrification products. Toxicological studies with Artemia salina (brine shrimp) nauplii revealed that STB1 strain is non-toxic to Artemia larvae, which suggests that STB1 can be safely and efficiently utilized in water quality enrichment in aquatic ecosystems. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.