Bacteria able to convert oleic acid to 10-hydroxystearic acid were isolated from the ovine rumen. The solid hydroxy fatty acid produced from bacterial fermentations containing oleic acid was recovered by filtration, extraction into ether and crystallisation. The identity of the product was confirmed by HPLC and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. One 10-hydroxystearic-acid-producing bacterial group was represented by two strains of an anaerobic gram-negative curved rod with tufts of flagella on the concave surface of the cell. The morphology and other characteristics enabled the strains to be tentatively identified as Selenomonas ruminantium. Another bacterium capable of the same transformation, represented by two strains of a facultatively anaerobic gram positive chain-forming coccus, was identified as Enterococcus faecalis. Since unsaturated fatty acids entering the rumen are normally hydrogenated, hydration of oleic acid represents an alternative fate of unknown significance in vivo.