A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, coccoid, ovoid or rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated RSS3-C1T, was isolated from a golden sea squirt (Halocynthia aurantium) collected from the East Sea, South Korea. Strain RSS3-C1T was found to grow optimally at 20–25 °C, at pH 7.0–8.0 and in the presence of 2.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain RSS3-C1T clustered with the type strains of
Lutimonas vermicola
and
Aestuariicola saemankumensis
. Strain RSS3-C1T exhibited 98.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to each type strain. Strain RSS3-C1T contained MK-6 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and anteiso-C15 : 0 as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids of strain RSS3-C1T were phosphatidylethanolamine and two unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content of strain RSS3-C1T was 39.2 mol%, and DNA–DNA relatedness to the type strains of and was 21±5.3 and 26±7.5 %, respectively. The differential phenotypic properties, together with its phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain RSS3-C1T is separated from and . On the basis of the data presented, strain RSS3-C1T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus
Lutimonas
, for which the name Lutimonas halocynthiae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is RSS3-C1T ( = KCTC 32537T = CECT 8444T). In this study, it is also proposed that
Aestuariicola saemankumensis
should be reclassified as a member of the genus
Lutimonas
, as
Lutimonas
saemankumensis comb. nov. (type strain SMK-142T = KCTC 22171T = CCUG 55329T), and the description of the genus
Lutimonas
is emended.