To assess the toxic effect of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate(SDBS)on yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco,yellow catfish with body weight of(101.4±16.5)g was raised in a flowing water aerated tank and exposed to SDBS at concentrations of 0.0 mg/L,0.2 mg/L,0.4 mg/L,0.6 mg/L,and 0.8 mg/L at a water temperature of(24.5±0.3)℃ for 10 d.Then the activities of serum lysozyme(LZM)and alkaline phosphatase(AKP)were measured,the activities of superoxide dismutase(SOD)and catalase(CAT),the contents of malondialdehyde(MDA),immunoglobulin M(IgM)and complement C3(C3),as well as the total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC)were determined in hepatopancreas.The relative expression levels of complement C3 and CA T genes in the spleen were measured by fluorescence quantitative PCR.The results showed that the levels of complement C3 and immunoglobulin and activities of SOD and LZM and T-AOC were found to be decreased in the hepatopancreas of yellow catfish exposed to SDBS,while the levels of malondialdehyde to be increased.mRNA transcript levels of complement C3 and CA T genes in spleen of yellow catfish showed down-regulation after SDBS exposure,and the mRNA transcript levels of complement C3 gene were significantly down-regulated in the high concentration exposure group(0.8 mg/L)(P<0.05)and CA T gene mRNA transcript levels were significantly down-regulated in the 0.4-0.8 mg/L exposure(P<0.05).The findings indicated that the exposure to 0.4-0.8 mg/L concentration of SDBS led to reduce the antioxidant capacity and immune level of yellow catfish.