A novel strictly anaerobic, heterotrophic bacterium, strain D-2, was isolated from the tideland soil of East China sea. This organism was identified as a member of the genus Bacteroides on the basis of its 16S rRNA gene sequence. Cells stained Gram-negative, were gram-negative, no-spore, appeared as irregular rod. Cells were 0.5 µm wide and 1–3 µm long, and occurred in clusters of two to four cells. Its optimum temperature, pH and NaCl concentration for growth were 37 ºC, 7.0 and 20 g·L^-1, respectively. Under the optimum growth conditions, the doubling time was approximately 91.8 min. Strain D-2 fermented a variety of simple and complex substrates such as glucose, cellobiose, ribose, raffinose(2 mM), lactose, xylan, arabinose and so on. The end products identified during growth on glucose were acetate, propionate, butyrate, CO₂, and H₂. The DNA G+C content of this organism was 43.9 mol%. Based on the phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, it is proposed that this organism represents a novel species in the genus Bacteroides. The Genbank Number is GU384203.