A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, phototrophic bacterium (JA181(T)) was isolated from a tidal water sample. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain JA181(T) was shown to belong to the class Alphaproteobacteria, most closely related to Rhodovulum sulfidophilum (97.8 % similarity to the type strain), Rhodovulum adriaticum (93 %), Rhodovulum robiginosum (93 %), Rhodovulum iodosum (94 %), Rhodovulum imhoffii (94 %), Rhodovulum strictum (95 %), Rhodovulum euryhalinum (94.6 %) and Rhodovulum marinum (94.6 %). DNA-DNA hybridization with Rdv. sulfidophilum DSM 1374(T) (relatedness of 39 % with strain JA181(T)) and physiological and biochemical tests allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strain JA181(T) from the eight Rhodovulum species with validly published names. Strain JA181(T) therefore represents a novel species, for which the name Rhodovulum visakhapatnamense sp. nov. is proposed (type strain JA181(T) =JCM 13531(T) =ATCC BAA-1274(T) =DSM 17937(T)).