A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated S9-10T, was isolated from a sediment sample from the Yellow Sea near China. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain S9-10T was a member of the family Flavobacteriaceaeand formed a distinct lineage. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain S9-10T was 34.2 mol%. The major respiratory quinone was MK-6. The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 (21.1 %), iso-C15 : 1G (16.3 %) and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH (12.0 %). The polar lipid profile contained phosphatidylethanolamine, aminophospholipid, aminoglycolipid, two unidentified aminolipids and five unidentified polar lipids. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses, strain S9-10T represents a novel species of a novel genus of the family Flavobacteriaceae, for which the name Oceanihabitans sediminis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Oceanihabitans sediminis is S9-10T (=DSM 28133T =LMG 28074T).