It exhibits clear hemolysis on ovine blood agar medium. Colonies are small with a narrow zone of alpha hemolysis on blood agar plates. It forms black colonies on blood agar. Hemolysis on blood agar is beta-hemolytic. They are shown to lack hemolytic ability on a blood agar plate. The organism can grow on blood agar. Enterococci typically exhibit gamma-hemolysis on sheep's blood agar. "E. meningoseptica" grows well on blood agar and chocolate agar. "A. salmonicida" isolates flourish when grown on blood agar or tyrosine. Strains possessing one or both of these hemolysins exhibit beta-hemolysis on blood agar plates. Among the nonhemolytic strains, certain ones produced the alpha reaction on blood agar. It consists of 0.6% sodium chloride (NaCl) added to a simple blood agar slope. "Kocuria" can be grown on sheep blood agar and other simple media plates. Tests with blood agar have shown some of these species can survive "in vivo". Blood agar growth is only achieved as a satellite phenomenon around other bacteria.