The development of an intensive aquaculture industry has been accompanied by increasing environmental impacts, especially nitrogen pollution. In this study, a novel halophilic bacterium capable of heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification was isolated from mariculture water and identified as Bacillus litoralis N31. The efficiency of ammonium, nitrite and nitrate removal by N31 were 86.3%, 89.3% and 89.4%, respectively, after a 48-h cultivation in sole N-source medium with initial nitrogen approximately 20 mg/L. However, ammonium was removed preferentially, and no obvious nitrite accumulated during the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification process in mixed N-source media. The existence of hao, napA and nirS genes further proved the heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification capability of N31. The optimal conditions for ammonium removal were 30 degrees C, initial pH 7.5-8.5, C/N ratio 5-20 and salinity 30-40 parts per thousand, and the nitrification rate of N31 increased with increasing initial NH4+-N from 10 to 250 mg/L. Biosecurity assessment with shrimp indicated that strain N31 could be applied in the marine aquaculture industry safely for culture water remediation and effluent treatment. (C) 2017, The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. All rights reserved.