Two bacterial strains were isolated from the hepatopancreas of a cultured shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) in Sinaloa, Mexico. Their partial 16S rRNA gene sequences clustered within those of the genus Photobacterium, showing high similarity to the type strains of Photobacterium angustum and Photobacterium leiognathi, were 87.1% and 97.5%, respectively. Multilocus sequence analysis using eight housekeeping genes (ftsZ, gapA, gyrB, mreB, pyrH, recA, rpoA, topA and 16S rRNA) and phylogenetic analysis with 139 single-copy genes showed that the new strains form an independent branch whole genome sequencing and genomic analyses (average nucleotide identity, average amino acid identity, and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization) produced values well below the thresholds for species delineation with all methods tested. In addition, a phenotypic characterization was performed to support the description and differentiation of the novel strains from related taxa. The results obtained demonstrate that the two strains represent a novel species for which the name Photobacterium lucens sp. nov. is proposed.