This study was conducted to investigate effects of dietary lipid level on growth and body composition of juvenile red sea bream in low temperatures. Duplicate groups of fish (initial body weight of 79 g) were fed one of three isonitronic diets (47% crude protein) containing different lipid levels (10%, 17% and 22%) for 25 weeks during the winter season. Weight gain and survival of fish fed 17% lipid diet were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those fish fed the 10% or 22% lipid diet. Protein efficiency ratio, daily feed intake, condition factor, hepatosomatic index and viscerasomatic index were not affected by dietary lipid level, but feed efficiency of fish fed 10% lipid diet was significantly (P<0.05) lower than those fish fed the 17% or 22% lipid diet. Proximate composition of the whole body, liver, viscera and dorsal muscle were not significantly different among all groups except for crude protein content of dorsal muscle. The contents of 16:0, 18:0, 20:4n-3 and 20:5n-3 of the whole body were significantly (P<0.05) affected by dietary lipid level. The results of this study suggest that an increased dietary lipid level from 10% to 17% can improve growth of juvenile red sea bream in low temperature periods.