A Gram-reaction-negative, aerobic, non-flagellated, rod-shaped and yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain SM1502T, was isolated from Arctic seawater. The isolate grew at 10-40 °C and with 0-8.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolate was affiliated with the genus Flavobacterium, with the highest sequence similarity (96.0 %) found with Flavobacterium suzhouense XIN-1T. The major fatty acids of strain SM1502T were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 1ω9c, iso-C15 : 1 G, C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and unknown ECL 13.565. The major respiratory quinone of strain SM1502T was menaquinone-6 (MK-6). Polar lipids of strain SM1502T included phosphatidylethanolamine and one unidentified aminolipid and lipid. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain SM1502T was 37.0 mol%. Based on the polyphasic data obtained in this study, strain SM1502T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium arcticum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SM1502T (=KCTC 42668T=CCTCC AB 2015346T).