A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, mesophilic, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain 2-3 T , was isolated from surface seawater at Muroto city, Kochi prefecture, Japan. This strain grew well with starch. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the strain fell within the family Rhodobacteraceae and that the strain was related most closely to the genus Pacificibacter (94.0 % sequence similarity to the type strain). The DNA G+C content was 52.4 mol%. The major fatty acids were C 18 : 1 v7c, C 14 : 0 and C 16 : 0 . The major polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, one unidentified lipid, one unidentified aminolipid and one unidentified phospholipid. The major isoprenoid quinone was Q-10. Strain 2-3 T did not grow at 4 or 35 6C, while the type strain of the type species of the genus Pacificibacter grows at both temperatures. From the taxonomic data obtained in this study, it is proposed that strain 2-3 T be placed into a novel genus and species named Amylibacter marinus gen. nov., sp. nov. in the family Rhodobacteraceae. The type strain of Amylibacter marinus is 2-3 T (5NBRC 110140 T 5LMG 28364 T ).Muroto city, Kochi prefecture, Japan is one of the rare areas where deep seawater is upwelling. Deep seawater is relatively rich in nitrogen and phosphorus (DeLong et al., 2006;Hansman et al., 2009), which are the two main growth-limiting factors in marine environments. Therefore, surface seawater around Muroto could potentially be more nutrient-rich than surface seawater in other areas, suggesting that rich microbial resources might be harboured in the Muroto surface seawater. The present study describes a novel bacterium, designated strain 2-3 T , isolated from Muroto surface seawater (33 u 189 N 134 u 119 E, water depth of 0.5 m).With regard to the original habitat, strain 2-3 T may prefer relatively nutrient-rich marine environments. Specifically, 1 of 94 16S rRNA gene fragments obtained from the surface of a fish living in Muroto deep seawater displayed 98.8 % similarity to that of strain 2-3 T . However, such a similar fragment (with 97 % or more similarity) has not been found out of 7746 fragments obtained from the surrounding Muroto deep seawater (M. Teramoto and others, unpublished data).Strain 2-3 T was obtained from seawater by direct plating on DSW2 plates, which comprised (per litre deep seawater from the coastal area of Muroto; 33 u 189 N 134 u 149 E, depth of 320 m) 15 g agar, 0