An orange- pigmented, Gram- stain- negative, strictly aerobic, non- flagellated and rod- shaped bacterium, designated strain DF17T, was isolated from coastal sediment collected from Jingzi Wharf, Weihai, PR China. The optimal growth conditions were determined to be at 30 degrees C, pH 7.5, and in 3 % (w/v) NaCl. According to phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, strain DF17T showed the highest sequence similarity of 96.9 % to Winogradskyella aquimaris KCTC 23502T. The DNA G+C content was 35.8 mol%, and the major fatty acids were iso-C15:1 G, iso- C15:0, and iso- C17: 0 3- OH. The major polar lipids were two aminoglycolipids, one phosphatidylethanolamine and four unidentified lipids. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone- 6 (MK- 6). The average nucleotide identity, digital DNA-DNA hybridization, and amino acid identity values between strain DF17T and other Winogradskyella species were below the species delineation thresholds of 69.35-72.95 %, 16.9-19.6 % and 71.25-78.93 %, respectively. On the basis of its phenotypic, genetic and physiological characteristics, strain DF17T is suggested to represent a novel species of the genus Winogradskyella, for which the name Winogradskyella pelagia sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DF17T (MCCC 1H00456T=KCTC 82421T).