A Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain E3T, which was motile with a polar flagellum, was isolated from coastal surface seawater near Tianjin city, China. The taxonomy of strain E3T was studied by phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic methods. Strain E3T forms non-pigmented colonies with a butyrous-mucoid consistency on marine 2216 agar. It grows optimally at 30 degrees C, in the presence of 2.0 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 7.6. Strain E3T is positive for catalase and oxidase and hydrolysis of lipid and reduces nitrate to N2 gas. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain E3T belongs to the Gammaproteobacteria and is grouped in the genus Glaciecola, with highest sequence similarity to the type strains of Glaciecola chathamensis (94.6 %), G. agarilytica (94.4 %) and G. mesophila (94.4 %). Strain E3T contained summed feature 3 (C(16 : 1)omega7c and/or iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH, 34.5 %), C(18 : 1)omega7c (17.3 %) and C(16 : 0) (17 %) as the major fatty acids and phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol as the main phospholipids. The DNA G+C content was 40.8 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, strain E3T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Glaciecola, for which the name Glaciecola lipolytica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is E3T (=CGMCC 1.7001T =JCM 15139T).