Copepod nauplii plays an important role as a linker between the microbial food web and classical food chain in marine ecosystem and is an essential food source for early stage of many larval fishes. Study on the influencing factors on the growth of copepod naupliar stages has been rarely carried out in despite of these ecological significances. Many studies have shown that food availability and temperature are major factors to influence copepod growth. However, due to the complicated environment parameters in coastal ecosystem, the relationships between growth of copepods and influencing factors are still unclear under the natural condition. Growth rates of the copepod $Acartia$ $hongi$ nauplii were measured in Kyeonggi Bay from February to December 2001. $Acartia$ $hongi$ is numerically abundant and widespread predominant species in the coastal regions of the Yellow Sea and occurs continuously throughout the year, with a maximum peak in late spring. The naupliar growth rates of $Acartia$ $hongi$ by the artificial cohort method varied from 0.03 to 0.18 $day^{-1}$, with a mean of 0.09 $day^{-1}$. The overall naupliar growth rates showed a significantly positive relationship with the variation in water temperature. However, Previous study reported that the growth rates of adult $Acartia$ $hongi$ were primarily influenced by the variation in chlorophyll-$a$. Therefore, these differences demonstrated that the influencing factors of growth did not correspond with the developmental stages. The results of this study suggest that the dissimilarity of growth between nauplius and adult female resulted from the size-dependant difference in food availability and the growth of older developmental stages containing adults are more food-dependent than juveniles.