Vibrio cholerae strain Htx-3, a hypertoxinogenic mutant of V. cholerae 569B Inaba, produces a dark brown pigment under certain growth conditions, whereas strain 569B does not. We investigated the biochemical basis for this pigment production and the possible relationships between pigmentation and other phenotypic properties in V. cholerae. After mutagenesis of V. cholerae 569B with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, 28 independently derived pigment-forming (mel) mutants were isolated and characterized. The mel mutants frequently differed from wild type in toxinogenicity or motility and occasionally differed in other phenotypic traits. Individual mel mutants differed from wild type both in the amount of toxin produced and in the growth conditions optimal for toxin production. It has not yet been established whether multiple phenotypic changes in individual mel mutants represent pleiotropic effects of single mutations or induction of multiple mutations by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine or both. Production of pigment by mel mutants occurred at temperatures from 22 to 40 degrees C, was inhibited by anaerobiosis, and was stimulated by supplementation of growth media with the amino acid precursors of melanin (l-phenylalanine, l-tyrosine, or l-tyrosine plus l-cysteine). The pigment possessed several other properties reported for microbial melanins. We conclude that a biochemical pathway for melanin production is present in V. cholerae, that this pathway cannot be fully expressed in wild-type strain 569B, and that mutations in the gene(s) which we have designated mel can permit hyperproduction of melanin under appropriate conditions.