Strain c14(T), originally isolated from surface water of a freshwater pond located in Pingtung (southern Taiwan) used for culture of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic approach. The strain exhibited strong chitinolytic activity and was able to grow under aerobic and anaerobic conditions by utilizing chitin exclusively as the carbon, nitrogen and energy source. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed a clear affiliation of the proposed bacterium to the Betaproteobacteria, most closely related to Chitinibacter tainanensis S1(T), Deefgea rivuli WB 3.4-79(T) and Silvimonas terrae KM-45(T), with 94.6, 93.6 and 92.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively. The predominant fatty acids detected in cells of strain c14(T) were C(16 : 0), C(18 : 1)omega7c and summed feature 3 (C(16 : 1)omega7c and/or C(15 : 0) iso 2-OH). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 69.5 (+/-1.0) mol%. Biochemical, physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses showed that strain c14(T) could not be assigned to any known genus of the Betaproteobacteria. Therefore, strain c14(T) is classified within a novel genus and species, for which the name Chitinilyticum aquatile gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Chitinilyticum aquatile is c14(T) (=LMG 23346(T) =BCRC 17533(T)).