Keywords: marine bryozoan, Bugula neritina, 3E-hydroxy-25-methoxy-(23E)-cholesta-5,23-dien, sterols.The marine bryozoan Bugula neritina L. is one of the most prominent bryozoans among the common fouling organisms, with a broad geographic range in the Atlantic, Pacific, and other areas. Since the discovery of their medical potential in 1968, a series of macrocyclic lactones termed bryostatins 1-20 and neristatins 1-2 [1-11] have been isolated from this bryozoan, while only a few reports on the steroids exist.We previously reported the isolation of bryostatins from this animal and discovered a new antineoplastic macrolide, bryostatin 19 [10]. A further investigation on the steroids from the petroleum ether extract is reported in this paper.The petroleum ether extract was repeatedly chromatographed over SiO 2 and Sephadex LH-20 using different solvent systems. A new steroid (1) and five known compounds, cholesteryl myristate (2), cholest-4-en-3-one (3), cholesterol (4), 3E,5D,9D-trihydroxy-(22E, 24R)-ergosta-7,22-dien-6-one (5), and 3E,5D,6E-trihydroxy-(22E,24R)-ergosta-7,22-diene (6) were isolated. The structures were identified using spectral methods, including 1D, 2D NMR spectroscopies and mass spectrometry.Compound 1 was isolated as a white crystal. The 1 H and 13 C NMR spectra exhibited the presence of six methyls (four of which were tertiary methyls, one of which was oxygenated), nine methylenes, six methines (one of which was oxygenated), three characterstics quaternary carbons at G C 42.40, 36.53, and 74.88, and four olefinic carbons with corresponding proton signals at G H 5.53 (m), 5.41 (d, J = 16.1 Hz), and 5.35 (t). These data show that 1 possessed a cholesta skeleton having two double bonds, one hydroxyl and one methoxyl. Two double bonds were assigned to be located between C-5 and C-6, as well as C-23 and C-24, by comparison of chemical shifts and coupling constants of three olefinic proton signals with that of a related compound [12,13]. The assignment was further confirmed by HMBC experiment (Fig. 1), in which long-range coupling