A Gram-staining-negative, motile, rod shaped bacterium designated MSSRFH1T, was isolated from the rhizosphere of the mangrove Avicennia marina in Pichavaram, Tamil Nadu, India. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of MSSRFH1T indicated it clustered in the genus Salinicola and was most closely related to Salinicola peritrichatus JCM18795T (96.7 % similarity). Similarity was <96.5 % with other Salinicola species. The distinctiveness of strain MSSRFH1T was also shown by low similarities of rpoD (<87 %) and gyrB (<85 %) gene sequences to other members of Salinicola. Strain MSSRFH1T could tolerate NaCl concentrations upto 30 %. The main fatty acids of MSSRFH1T included C18:1ω7C, C16:0, and C19:0ω8C. Polar lipids present included diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), an unidentified amino lipid (AL) and unidentified phospholipids. Comparison of BOX-PCR fingerprints indicated MSSRFH1T showed a unique DNA profile. The genomic G+C content was 64 mol%. On the basis of data presented, strain MSSRFH1T represents a novel species of the genus Salinicola, for which the name Salinicola rhizosphaerae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MSSRFH1T (= KCTC32998T= NBRC 110222T).