The effects of rotifer, Branchionus plicatilis , and Artemia nauplii on the development and survival in the Chinese mitten - handed crab were investigated during the larval developmental stages. The results showed that rot ifer is a kind of appropriate feed for the early zoeal larval culture ( Z1 and Z2 ) , their development and survival may be affected by the amount of feed, the survival rate of the crab larvae increased gradually with increasing of amount of the rotifer, but it decreased when exceeding the optimal amount . The highest survival rate of the larva was gained by fed with the rotifers at 40ind..mL - 1 in HUFA - enriched group, and at 60 ind..mL- 1 in control group respectively. However, all groups fed on rotifer only showed high mortality in postlarval stages ( Z3, Z4, Z5, M) . Nevertheless, Artemia is a kind of suitable diet for the postlarvae of the crab, when the larvae were fed with Artemia at 10 ind..mL- 1 instead of the rotifer, higher larval survival rate and normal metamorpho sis to megalopa could be expected. The experimental results show that HUFA in feed inf luence significantly the development and survival of the crab larvae, and the survival and molting rate can be improved by enriching HUFA especially EPA and DHA in feed of larval stage.