An antimicrobial material was purified from the acidified whole body extract of the jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai by using C18 reversed phase and cation-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Whole body extract and the purified compound (JAP-1) showed potent antimicrobial activities against a wide range of microorganisms including Escherichia coli D31, Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus iniae and Candida albicans, without significant hemolytic activity. Treatment of JAP-1 with trypsin completely abolished all antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis, suggesting that JAP-1 is likely to be a proteinaceous antibiotic. The molecular weight of JAP-1 was determined to be 680.10 Da by MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy.