Staphylococcus aureus is a facultatively anaerobic, Gram-positive coccus, which appears as grape-like clusters when viewed through a microscope and has large, round, golden-yellow colonies, often with hemolysis, when grown on blood agar plates. The golden appearance is the etymological root of the bacteria's name; ''aureus'' means "golden" in Latin.
''S. aureus'' is catalase positive (meaning that it can produce the enzyme "catalase") and able to convert hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to water and oxygen, which makes the catalase test useful to distinguish staphylococci from enterococci and streptococci. A small percentage of ''S. aureus'' can be differentiated from most other staphylococci by the coagulase test: ''S. aureus'' is primarily coagulase-positive (meaning that it can produce "coagulase", a protein product, which is an enzyme) that causes clot formation while most other ''Staphylococcus'' species are coagulase-negative.). Incorrect identification of an isolate can impact implementation of effective treatment and/or control measures.
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