A novel, Gram-stain-negative, motile, flagellated, aerobic, rod-shaped (0.5-0.7 µm wide and 1.0-1.2 µm long) and faint-yellow strain, designated ALS 84T, was isolated from marine sediment sampled at Ailian bay, Rongcheng, PR China. Growth occurred in the presence of 1-3 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2 % NaCl), at pH 4.0-8.0 (pH 6.0-7.0) and at 8-30 °C (28 °C). The genome size was 4.37 Mbp. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 33.6 mol%. The results of phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences suggested that strain ALS 84T belongs to the genus Flavicella within the family Flavobacteriaceae, and is most closely related to Flavicella marina (95.6 % similarity). The major fatty acids (>10 %) were iso-C15 : 0 3-OH (22.9 %), iso-C15 : 0 (14.0 %) and C16 : 0 (10.9 %). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and three unidentified lipids. Menaquinone-6 (MK-6) was identified as the respiratory quinone. On the basis of the phenotypic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic data obtained in the study, strain ALS 84T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Flavicella, for which the name Flavicella sediminum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the novel species is strain ALS 84T (=KCTC 62398T=MCCC 1K03480T).