Fermentation is one the ancient technique of food preservation known to man. Fermented foods contribute to a significant portion of the dietary protein consumed in Southeast Asia. They are of becoming increasingly popular in the developed world because of their high nutritive value, organoleptic characteristics, and easy digestibility. Fermented fish that usually contain over 20% salt are expected to harbor extremely halophilic microorganisms. In the present study, salt fermented fish samples (n=106) which included fermented Indian shad, mackerel, anchovies, seer fish, pomfret and others were collected from different locations of India were analyzed for the presence of extremely halophilic microorganisms using conventional culture based methods in three different halophilic medium, followed by an incubation period of 2-3 weeks at 30°C and their identities were confirmed by 16SrRNA amplification. Out of 1635 isolates, 1198 and 437 were confirmed to be halophilic archaea and bacterial isolates respectively. They grew optimally at salt concentrations between 20 and 30% and did not grow below 15% salts. Thus they belong to extreme halophiles. Among haloarchaea, halobacterium sp., halococcus sp., halorubrum sp. dominated over bacteria with Salimicrobium sp., Chromohalobacter sp., Alkalibacillus sp. Lentibacillus sp. and, Nesterenkonia sp. This study highlighted the fact that extremely halophilic archaea have a potentially important role in the fermentation process as they consisted the major flora of salt fermented products, hence necessitating further investigations.