etabolic response was investigated in southern catfish Silurus meridionalis at 27.5℃. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the specific dynamic action (SDA) coefficient among the groups of different feeding levels (P >0.05). The duration increased from 26.0 to 40.0 h and the peak metabolic rate increased from 207.8 to 378.8 mg O2 kg-1 h-1 when the feeding level was increased from 0.5 to 4%. The relationship between the peak metabolic rate (RP, mg O2 kg-1 h-1) and FL could be described as: RP =175.4 t 47.3 FL (r2 = 0.943, n = 40, P < 0.001). The relationship between the SDA duration (D, h) and FL could be described as D=30.97FL0.248 (r2=0.729, n=40, P < 0.001).