A facultatively anaerobic, Gram-stain-negative and non-gliding bacterium, designated F01(T), was isolated from marine solar saltern in Weihai, PR China. Cells of F01(T) were 0.2-0.4 mu m wide and 1.4-4.1 mu m long, weakly catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. Growth of F01(T) was determined to occur at 4-40 degrees C (optimum, 33-37 degrees C), pH 6.5-8.5 (optimum, 7.0-8.0), and with 0.5-18.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 3.0-6.0%). The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that F01(T) represented a member of the genus Marinobacter within the family Alteromonadaceae. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolate was most closely related to Marinobacter algicola DSM 16394(T), with a sequence similarity of 97.5%. The DNA G+C content of the isolate was 57.6 mol%. The major respiratory quinone of F01(T) was ubiquinone-9 (Q-9) and the major fatty acids were anteiso-C-15:0, C-16:0 and C-18:1 omega 9c. The major polar lipids were phosphoaminolipid, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. On the basis of the results of the phylogenetic analysis and phenotypic properties, it is concluded that F01(T) can be considered to represent a novel species in the genus Marinobacter, for which the name Marinobacter vulgaris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is F01(T) (=MCCC 1H00290(T)=KCTC 52700(T)).