Isolation, cloning and sequencing of red seabream (Pagrus major) somatolactin (rsbSL) cDNA from pituitary gland revealed an open reading frame of 693 bp coding for a pre-growth hormone of 231 amino acids with a 22 amino acid putative signal peptide. Deduced amino acid sequence showed that there was one possible N-glycosylation site at Asn$^{145}$ and seven Cys residues (Cys$_{29}$ , Cys$^{39}$ , Cys$^{66}$ , Cys$^{89}$ , Cys$^{205}$ , Cys$^{222}$ , Cys$^{230}$ ). Except Cys$^{66}$ , others may be involved in disulfide bond formation. The rsbSL presented a 93% amino acid sequence identity with the SL of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) and contained the conserved hormone domain region. Expression of rsbSL in E. coli (BL2l) cells and gel analysis revealed a higher molecular weight for rsbSL than expected theoretically, implying posttranslational modifications.