Abstract: Objective To perform taxonomic studies on a carotenoid -producing marine bacterium isolated from the mud sample at a depth of 160 m in East China Sea. Methods Taxonomic studies were performed with phenotypic and BIOLOG analysis, 16 S rRNA gene sequencing and blast analysis, and fatty acid component analysis. Carotenoids produced by this bacterial strain were extracted and analyzed with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results CAR -red strain showed high similarity with the genus of kocuria sp. The predominant fatty acid component was 16:1 w7c/16:1 w6c based on GC analysis. Conclusions A CAR-red strain belonged to the genus of kocuria sp. , and kocuria CAR-red was proposed as the name for this strain on the basis of the taxonomic data.