A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile and aerobic bacterium, designated HHU G3-2T, was isolated from surface water of the Yellow Sea, PR China. Strain HHU G3-2T was positive for oxidase activity and negative for catalase. Optimal growth occurred at 28 °C (range, 20–37 °C), pH 7.0 (range, pH 6.0–9.0) and in the presence of 2–5 % (w/v) NaCl (range, 1–7%). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and 120 ubiquitous single-copy protein-coding genes indicated that strain HHU G3-2T formed a distinct phylogenetic lineage with
Aestuariicella hydrocarbonica
JCM 30134T, sharing a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 98.05%. Average nucleotide identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain HHU G3-2T and
A. hydrocarbonica
JCM 30134T were 75.74 and 17.80%, respectively, which were below the threshold values of 95–96 and 70 %, respectively. The DNA G+C content of the genomic DNA was 51.17 mol%. The major fatty acids (>10 %) were C17 : 1
ω8c (19.8 %), summed feature 3 (C16 : 1
ω7c/C16 : 1
ω6c; 15.9 %), summed feature 8 (C18 : 1
ω7c/C18 : 1
ω6c; 13.8 %) and C17 : 0 (10.3 %). The predominant isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-8. The polar lipid profile consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. Based on the polyphasic taxonomic data, strain HHU G3-2T represents a novel species of the genus
Aestuariicella
, for which the name Aestuariicella albida sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HHU G3-2T (=MCCC 1K04224T=JCM 34652T=GDMCC 1.2418T=CGMCC 1.17397T). In addition, we proposed the genus
Aestuariicella
as a member of the family
Cellvibrionaceae
.