In order to explore the role of stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (scd1) in the response of black porgy (Acanthopagrus schlegelii) to low temperature, the full-length cDNAs of scd1a and scd1b genes in the liver of black porgy were analyzed, and their expression in different tissues under acute low temperature stress was quantified. A temperature of 19.8 ℃ was used for the control group and 6 ℃ was used for the stress low temperature groups (cooling, at a rate of 1 ℃/h, to 6 ℃, which was maintained for 24 h). In the stress group, the individuals that could swim normally comprised the tolerant group and the ones in an unbalanced state comprised the sensitive group. The results showed that the full length of scd1a cDNA was 3281 bp (GenBank: No. MZ004439), including a 111-bp long 5′ non-coding region, 2162-bp long 3′ non-coding region, and 1008-bp long complete open reading frame, which encodes a total of 335 amino acids; the full length of scd1b gene cDNA was 1560 bp (GenBank: No. MZ004440), including a 1008-bp long complete open reading frame, encoding a total of 335 amino acids, and a 152-bp long 5′UTR and 400-bp long 3'UTR. The multiple sequence alignment results showed that the SCD amino acid sequences of black porgy and other bony fishes have a high degree of similarity (70%–98%), and both contain 3 highly conserved histidine elements. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the black porgy scd1a and scd1b genes were clustered with the A. latus scd and scd b genes, respectively, and there was a close evolutionary relationship between the two species. Using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, it was found that at a water temperature of 19.8 ℃, Asscd1a and Asscd1b were mainly expressed in the liver, weakly expressed in the brain, and not expressed in the gills. The expression of scd1a in the liver was inhibited in the early stage and significantly up-regulated in the later stages (P＜0.05); scd1b expression showed a continuous up-regulation trend in the liver, while being up-regulated to higher levels than scd1a. This suggests that the regulation of expression of black porgy scd1a and scd1b genes is coordinated and plays a vital role in the acute low temperature response mechanism through different regulatory methods. The expression of Asscd1a and Asscd1b in the brain was inhibited, and in the gills, their expression was significantly up-regulated (P＜0.05). The two sub-types of scd1 in the tolerance group showed more rapid changes in the three tissues compared to the sensitive group. The dramatic changes in the expression of Asscd1a and Asscd1b indicate that they play an important role in the low temperature response of black porgy. The findings of the current study provide reference and supportive data for understanding the low temperature response mechanism and the breeding of cold-tolerant black porgy strains.