The isomeric composition of retinal was measured in a number of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) mutants (D85N, D212N, R82A, Y185F, and D115N) under various conditions, using a rapid retinal extraction technique followed by HPLC analysis. Besides the 13-cis and the all-trans retinal isomers observed in wild type (wt) bR under physiological conditions, the 11-cis and 9-cis retinal isomers were observed in variable but minor amounts in the bR mutants. In addition, the values of the equilibrium constant at two temperatures and the enthalpy change for the all-trans to 13-cis isomerization process in the dark-adapted state of D212N, D85N, deionized blue bR, and wt bR were determined. We find that perturbation of the retinal cavity (pocket) by residue replacement changes the relative thermal stability of the different retinal isomers, allowing for thermal-and/or photoisomerization of the retinal chromophore along C-9-C-10 and C-11-C-12 bonds to moderately compete with the isomerization around the C-13-C-14 bond. The bR mutants expressed in Halobacterium salinarium studied in the present work showed normal 13-cis to all-trans light adaptation, in contrast with abnormal all-trans to 13-cis light adaptation observed for D212E, D212A, and D212N expressed in Escherichia coli, suggesting an influence of the purple membrane lattice and/or the lipids on the stability of the different retinal isomers within the protein.