An 8-week feeding trial was performed to investigate effects of dietary selenium (sodium selenite, Na 2 SeO 3 ; selenium nanoparticle, Nano-Se; selenium yeast, Se-yeast) on the growth, selenium status, antioxidant activities, muscle composition and meat quality of blunt snout bream. Na 2 SeO 3 and Nano-Se were supplemented at 0.2 mg Se kg À1 , and Se-yeast was supplemented at 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 mg Se kg À1 in basal diet; no Se was added as a control. The results indicated that groups of 0.2 and 0.4 mg kg À1 Se-yeast had significantly higher weight gain and Nano-Se, 0.2, 0.4 mg kg À1 Se-yeast had significantly lower feed conversation ratio compared with the control group. The Se concentrations of whole body, muscle and liver linearly increased with increasing dietary Se-yeast levels. Group of 0.4 mg kg À1 Se-yeast significantly increased activities of catalase and glutathione peroxidase. Muscle colour of Nano-Se, 0.2, 0.4 mg kg À1 Se-yeast groups, the waterholding capacity of 0.4, 0.8 mg kg À1 Se-yeast groups showed significant differences compared with the control group. The results suggest that Se-yeast and Nano-Se had a better growth performance than Na 2 SeO 3 at 0.2 mg Se kg À1 , and supplementing appropriate Se-yeast in diet can increase antioxidant activities and enhance meat quality of blunt snout bream.