A novel rod-shaped binary fission, and yellow-pigmented bacterial strain, JLT 2480(T), was isolated from surface seawater in the East Pacific Ocean. The strain is Gram negative and oxidase negative. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequence indicate that strain JLT 2480(T) falls in the family Sphingomonadaceae, sharing highest similarity (95.6 %) with the species Blastomonas ursincola. The DNA G+C content of JLT 2480(T) is 65.5 mol%, and the sole respiratory quinone is coenzyme Q10. The predominant polar lipids are sphingoglycolipids (SGL1 and SGL2), phosphatidylglycerols, phosphatidylethanolamines, phospholipids, glycolipids, and phosphatidylcholines. The predominant cellular fatty acids are C16:0, C18:0, C18:1ω7c, C12:0, and C16:1ω7c. Strain JLT 2480(T) is distinct from the B. ursincola type strain DSM 9006(T) as reflected by major chemotaxonomic distinctions between the two. Furthermore, two notable characteristics of the genus Blastomonas, that is, the presence of bacteriochlorophyll a and the puf genes, are not detected in JLT 2480(T). On the basis of present evidence, we consider JLT 2480(T) to be a novel species in a new genus of the family Sphingomonadaceae, and propose the name Binariimonas pacifica gen. nov., sp. nov., with strain JLT 2480(T) (=CGMCC 1.12850(T) = DSM 28646(T)) to be the type strain for genus Binariimonas.