A Gram-stain-negative, yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped, strictly aerobic, non-flagellated, nongliding and oxidase-and catalase-positive bacterium, designated A6 T , was isolated from a marine sponge, Halichondria oshoro, collected on the coast of Jeju Island, South Korea. Phylogenetic analysis based on the nearly complete 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain A6T was a member of the family Flavobacteriaceae. respectively. The dominant fatty acids of strain A6 T were iso-C 15 : 0 (32.2 %), iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH (20.0 %), iso-C 15 : 0 3-OH (12.3 %), iso-C 15 : 1 G (7.2 %) and summed feature 3 (comprising iso-C 15 : 0 2-OH and/or C 16 : 1 v7c; 6.8 %). The DNA G+C content of strain A6 T was 36.0 mol% and the major respiratory quinone was MK-6. On the basis of combined phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, strain A6 T represents a novel species of the genus Aquimarina, for which the name Aquimarina spongiae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is A6 T (5KCTC 22663 T 5DSM 22623 T ).

Pontibacillus marinus sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium from a solar saltern, and emended description of the genus Pontibacillus A moderately halophilic, Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium (BH030004 T ) was isolated from a solar saltern in Korea. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain BH030004 T belonged to the genus Pontibacillus. Chemotaxonomic data (DNA G+C content, 42 mol%; major isoprenoid quinone, MK-7; cell-wall type, A1c-type meso-diaminopimelic acid; major fatty acids, iso-C 15 : 0 and anteiso-C 15 : 0 ) also supported the affiliation of the isolate to the genus Pontibacillus. Although the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain BH030004 T and Pontibacillus chungwhensis DSM 16287 T was relatively high (99?1 %), physiological properties and DNA-DNA hybridization (about 7 % DNA-DNA relatedness) allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strain BH030004 T from the type strain of P. chungwhensis. Therefore, strain BH030004 T represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacillus, for which the name Pontibacillus marinus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BH030004 T (=KCTC 3917 T =DSM 16465 T ).

T were iso-C 15 : 1 G (19.1 %), iso-C 15 : 0 (13.3 %), iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH (10.0 %) and iso-C 15 : 0 3-OH (7.2 %). The DNA G+C content of strain A73 T was 36.0 mol% and its major