An aerobic, gliding and yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain SFD31T, was isolated from brown alga collected from the South Sea, Republic of Korea. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, and catalase- and oxidase-positive. The neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SFD31T forms an independent lineage within the genus Winogradskyella. Strain SFD31T was related distantly to Winogradskyella echinorum KMM 6211T (97.9 %, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Winogradskyellalitoriviva KMM 6491T (97.4 %), Winogradskyellapulchriflava EM106T (97.2 %) and Winogradskyellaeckloniae EC29T (96.9 %). The major fatty acids of strain SFD31T were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 1 G, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c) and unknown 13.565. The only isoprenoid quinone of the isolate was menaquinone 6. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, four unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content of strain SFD31T was 36.0 mol%. Phenotypic characteristics distinguished strain SFD31T from the related species of the genus Winogradskyella. On the basis of the evidence presented in this study, a novel species, Winogradskyella flava sp. nov., is proposed for strain SFD31T (=KCTC 52348T=JCM 31798T).