A rod-shaped marine bacterium, CL-TA03(T), isolated from a biofilm in a coastal fish farm in Tongyeong, Korea, was characterized for physiological and biochemical features, fatty acid profile and phylogenetic position based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed a clear affiliation with the family Rhodobacteraceae. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the closest relatives of CL-TA03(T) were Thalassobius gelatinovorus and Thalassobius mediterraneus (95.6 % similarity). The sequence similarities between CL-TA03(T) and other type species of the Roseobacter lineage ranged from 92.4 to 95.4 %. Strain CL-TA03(T) is motile and grows on marine agar as colourless or beige colonies. The strain is able to grow optimally in the range of 3-5 % sea salts. It grows within a temperature range of 15-35 degrees C and at pH 6-10. The fatty acids are dominated by 18 : 1omega7c (64.1 %) and 11-methyl 18 : 1omega7c (10.6 %). The DNA G+C content is 57.2 mol%. According to physiological data, fatty acid composition and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, CL-TA03(T) is considered to represent a new genus in the family Rhodobacteraceae and the name Shimia marina gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Shimia marina is CL-TA03(T) (=KCCM 42117(T)=JCM 13038(T)).