An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary taurine supplementation on the growth performance of juvenile rock bream, Oplegnathus fasciatus. Triplicate groups of 25 fish averaging $2.72{pm}0.04$ g ($mean{pm}SD$) were fed one of six experimental diets prepared by adding taurine at 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 3.0% (Control, $Tau_{0.25}$, $Tau_{0.5}$, $Tau_{1.0}$, $Tau_{1.5}$ and $Tau_{3.0}$, respectively). At the end of the feeding trial, the weight gain, specific growth rate and protein efficiency ratio of fish fed the $Tau_{0.5}$, $Tau_{1.0}$ and $Tau_{1.5}$ diets were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of fish fed the Control and $Tau_{0.25}$ diets. The feed efficiency of fish fed the $Tau_{0.5}$ diet was significantly higher than that of fish fed the Control, $Tau_{0.25}$ and $Tau_{3.0}$ diets. Fish fed the $Tau_{1.0}$ diet had higher whole-body crude protein content than fish fed the Control diet, while the crude lipid content of fish fed the $Tau_{1.5}$ and $Tau_{3.0}$ diets was significantly lower than that of fish fed the Control and $Tau_{0.25}$ diets. An ANOVA suggested that the optimum level of dietary taurine supplementation to improve growth and reduce the body lipid contents of juvenile rock bream, O. fasciatus, was 0.5%, while a broken line analysis of weight gain indicated a level of 0.62%.