An 8‐week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacing fishmeal by concentrated dephenolization cottonseed protein (CDCP) on growth, feed utilization, body composition, haemolymph indexes and antioxidative ability of juvenile white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, Boone. Six practical diets CDCP0, CDCP50, CDCP100, CDCP150, CDCP200 and CDCP250, containing a gradient of CDCP 0g/kg, 50g/kg, 100g/kg, 150g/kg, 200g/kg and 250 g/kg) to substitute (50g/kg, 90g/kg, 130g/kg, 170g/kg, 210g/kg and 250 g/kg) of fishmeal, diets were fed to four replicate groups. Amino acids were supplemented in the low fishmeal diet to obtain similar amino acid profile as the control diet. The results indicated that shrimp fed the CDCP20 and CDCP25 diet had poor growth performance and feed utilization compared with the CDCP0 group. No difference was observed in body composition among all the treatments. Total cholesterol (T‐CHO), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) concentrations in haemolymph were significantly lower in high‐CDCP groups. The digestibility of protein decreased significantly with increasing CDCP levels. When shrimp fed the CDCP250 diet had the significant lower total antioxidant capacity (T‐AOC) and catalase (CAT) activity than control diet. In conclusion, fishmeal can be reduced from 250g/kg to 130 g/kg by CDCP.