A Gram-negative, motile, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterial strain with tufty polar flagella, JLT1363(T), was isolated from the South China Sea. The bacteria formed yellow colonies on rich organic medium. The major cellular fatty acids present in JLT1363(T) were C-18:1 7c and/or C-18:1 6c (36.06%), C-17:1 6c (17.04%), C-14:0 2-OH (9.85%), and C-16:0 (8.09%). The genome size was similar to 3.12Mbps with a G+C content of 64.9%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain JLT1363(T) fell within the genus Erythrobacter. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain JLT1363(T) and the type strains of Erythrobacter species ranged from 95.0% (with Erythromicrobium ramosum) to 98.7% (with Erythrobacter lutimaris). The Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) value between genome sequences of strain JLT1363(T) and Erythrobacter lutimaris KCTC 42109(T) was 82.2%. Strain JLT1363(T) lacked bacteriochlorophyll a, and the major polar lipids were sphingoglycolipids, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylglycerol. Phylogenetic and phenotypic properties indicated that strain JLT1363(T) represents a novel species of the genus Erythrobacter, for which the name Erythrobacter nanhaiensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JLT1363(T) (=CGMCC 1.7293(T)=LMG 24872(T)).