A novel actinobacterium, strain P30(T), was isolated from jeotgal, a traditional Korean fermented seafood. Cells were aerobic, Gram-positive, non-motile and coccoid. Optimal growth occurred at 30-37 degrees C, at pH 8-9 and in the presence of 0-2 % (w/v) NaCl. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain P30(T) was phylogenetically closely related to Kocuria carniphila, Kocuria gwangalliensis, Kocuria rhizophila, Kocuria marina, Kocuria rosea and K. varians with levels of similarity of 98.6, 98.2, 98.1, 97.4, 97.3 and 97.3 %, respectively, to the type strains of these species. Levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain P30(T) and the type strains of K. carniphila, K. rhizophila, K. marina, K. rosea and K. varians were 37, 43, 37, 25 and 17 %, respectively. The predominant menaquinone of strain P30(T) was MK-7. Major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(15 : 0) and iso-C(16 : 0). The genomic DNA G+C content of strain P30(T) was 70.2 mol%. Based on these data, strain P30(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Kocuria, for which the name Kocuria atrinae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is P30(T) (=KCTC 19594(T)=JCM 15914(T)).