Stercobilin (and related urobilin) can be used as a marker for biochemical identification of fecal pollution levels in rivers.

[3] Stercobilin results from breakdown of the heme moiety of hemoglobin found in erythrocytes (red blood cells).

[5] An analysis of two infants suffering from cholelithiasis observed that a substantial amount of stercobilin was present in brown pigment gallstones.

This study suggested that brown pigment gallstones could form spontaneously in infants suffering from bacterial infections of the biliary tract.

[6] A 1996 study by McPhee et al. suggested that stercobilin and other related pyrrolic pigments — including urobilin, biliverdin, and xanthobilirubic acid — has potential to function as a new class of HIV-1 protease inhibitors when delivered at low micromolar concentrations.