A Gram-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming, halophilic bacterium (strain HSL-3(T)) was isolated from a salt lake near Hwajinpo beach on the East Sea in Korea and was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Strain HSL-3(T) grew optimally in the presence of 2-10% (w/v) NaCl. Strain HSL-3(T) showed poor growth in the absence of NaCl and grew in the presence of less than 23% NaCl. The cell wall peptidoglycan type of strain HSL-3(T) was A4beta based on L-Orn-D-Asp. The predominant menaquinone found in strain HSL-3(T) was menaquinone-7 (MK-7). Strain HSL-3(T) had a cellular fatty acid profile containing large amounts of branched fatty acids; the major fatty acids were anteiso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(15 : 0) and iso-C(16 : 0). The DNA G + C content of strain HSL-3(T) was 45 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequences showed that strain HSL-3(T) falls within the radiation of the cluster comprising Halobacillus species. Strain HSL-3(T) exhibited levels of 16S rDNA similarity of 97.4-98.4% to the type strains of Halobacillus species. Levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain HSL-3(T) and the type strains of all validly named Halobacillus species were in the range 7.3-9.2%. On the basis of phenotypic and phylogenetic data and the genomic distinctiveness, strain HSL-3(T) (= KCCM 41590(T) = JCM 11546(T)) should be placed in the genus Halobacillus as the type strain of a novel species, for which the name Halobacillus salinus sp. nov. is proposed.