One strain of unicellular flagellated yellow-green algae was successfully isolated from the coastal area near Tianjin in the Bohai Sea in May 2015. The strain ranged from round to elongated in shape. Most of the cells possessed active motility, and some cells formed non-motile aggregation. Based on evidences from morphology, ultrastructure and molecular analysis, we identified the strain as Pavlova pinguis which belonged to Pavlovophyceae, Haptophyta. For Pavlovophyceae, only Pavlova viridis (Diacronema viridis) was reported in China seas prior to this study and it played an important role in aquaculture. This is the first record of Pavlova pinguis in Chinese waters.