The present study was conducted to investigate the e¡ect of dietary cadmium (Cd) level on the growth, body composition and several enzymatic activities of juvenile yellow cat¢sh, Pelteobagrus fulvidraco. The experimental diets were formulated with CdCl 2 Á 2.5H 2 O at levels of 0, 0.01, 0.1 and 1.0 g kg À 1 diet, resulting in four dietary Cd levels of 0.25 (control), 4.92, 48.57 and 474.7 mg Cd kg À 1 diet respectively. They were fed to juvenile yellow cat¢sh (mean initial weight: 3.26 AE 0.07 g, mean AE SD) for 4 weeks. Weight gain, speci¢c growth rate, feed intake and protein e⁄ciency ratio tended to decline with increasing dietary Cd levels (Po0.05). In contrast, the feed conversion ratio was the lowest when the dietary Cd level was 0.25 mg Cd kg À 1 diet. Dietary Cd levels signi¢cantly in£uenced body composition and Cd accumulation. Whole body and vertebrae Cd content generally increased as the dietary Cd levels increased (Po0.05). However, muscle Cd content was detected only in ¢sh fed the diets containing the highest Cd level of the diet (P40.05). Hepatic alkaline phosphatase, glutathione peroxidase and lactate dehydrogenase activities increased (Po0.05) with increasing dietary Cd level. Succinate dehydrogenase was very variant and not related to dietary treatments. Malic dehydrogenase activity showed no signi¢cant di¡erences among the treatments (P40.05). The present study provided for the ¢rst time the toxic assessment of dietborne Cd in yellow cat¢sh, based on growth performance and the changes in hepatic enzymatic activities for the ¢sh species. E¡ect of dietary cadmium level on yellow cat¢sh X-Y Tan et al. Aquaculture Research, 2010, 41, 1022^1029 r 2009 The Authors à Values are mean AE SD of three replicates and values with the di¡erent letters within the same row are signi¢cantly di¡erent atPo0.05. wIBW (g ¢sh À 1 ), initial mean wet body weight. zFBW (g ¢sh À 1 ), ¢nal mean wet body weight. ‰WG (weight gain, %) 5 (¢nal mean wet body weight À initial mean wet body weight)/initial mean body weight. zSGR (speci¢c growth rate, % d À 1 ) 5 100  [ln (¢nal mean wet body weight) À ln (initial mean wet body weight)]/days. kSurvival (%) 5 100  (¢nal ¢sh number)/(initial ¢sh number). Ãà FI (g ¢sh À 1 ), feed intake.wwFCR (feed conversion ratio) 5 g feed intake/(FBW À IBW). zzPER (protein e⁄ciency ratio) 5 g gain g À 1 protein fed.Aquaculture Research, 2010, 41, 1022^1029 E¡ect of dietary cadmium level on yellow cat¢sh X-Y Tan et al.