A novel extracellular alkaline stable beta-1,3-glucanase produced by Bacillus clausii NM-1 isolated from the ezo abalone Haliotis discus hannai was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-Sepharose FF ion exchange chromatography and Sephacryl S-200HR gel filtration. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated to he 71 kDa from sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The enzyme was very stable at pH 5.3 to 11.5 but unstable at pH 4.0 to 4.5. The optimum temperature and thermostability of the enzyme increased in the presence of CaCl2, The enzyme hydrolyzed beta-1,3-glucan from marine organisms, but did not show activity against any other beta-1,3-glucans. The major hydrolysis products of beta-1,3glucan from Laminaria digitata and Eisenia bicyclis were laminaritriose and laminaritetraose, respectively. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified enzyme was similar to that of several beta-1,3-glucanases in the glycoside hydrolase family 16.