Abstract:As a fecal bacterial indicator of seawater and an opportunistic bacterium, Enterococcus is used for water quality monitoring and closely related to the public health. In this paper, the physiological and distribution characteristics of Enterococcus in the seawater are described at first. Then, decay mechanism of Enterococcus was introduced under the impact of the key environmental factors and biological factors, and decay kinetics model of Enterococcus in cellular and molecular level are summarized. Finally, the research direction of Enterococcus in seawater is addressed. By establishing the Enterococcus concentration prediction model, early warning of the risk of pathogenic microorganism infection in bathing beaches and other recreational waters will be feasible.