Response of proximate and fatty acid (FA) composition of the green tiger shrimp Penaeus semisulcatus in relation to changing water temperatures during over wintering (for 8-weeks at 11-16°C) and then refeeding periods (at 28°C for a further 2-weeks) was investigated in this study. The shrimps did not appear to need to catabolise their either body proteins or lipids during the overwintering period, as the feeding was not ceased completely. While muscle protein, ash and dry matter compositions of the shrimps did not change by changing temperature, lipid increased from 1% during the overwintering period to 1.2% during the recovery period (P<0.01). Saturated FAs (SFA), mono-unsaturated FAs (MUFA), and partially poly-unsaturated FAs (n-6 PUFA) declined, on the contrary, n-3 PUFA significantly rose in the muscle and hepatopacreas during the cold exposure. Shrimps tended to consume especially SFA and, to a lesser degree, MUFA under sub-optimal conditions (P<0.01). PUFA and LC-PUFA appeared to be selectively retained or even elevated in the shrimp muscle during the cold season. Over wintering strategy might generate additional benefit for a heathier food supply for human nutrition, as shrimps can be enriched for LC-PUFA, by simply keeping them under cold water temperatures (10-15°C) during overwintering period, with minimal cost of feeding.