A 6-week feeding trail was conducted to study the effect of density stress on growth performance, plasma cortisol, blood glucose and activities of related enzymes of juvenile . Three hundred juveniles, body weight (15±0.5) g were randomly distributed in 4 experimental groups: G₁₀ (10 ind/tank, 1.1 kg/m³), G₂₀ (20 ind/tank, 2.1 kg/m³), G₃₀ (30 ind/tank, 3.2 kg/m³), and G₄₀ (40 ind/tank, 4.2 kg/m³). The results showed: (1) weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR) of G₁₀ were the lowest among the experimental groups, and WG and SGR of G₂₀ were the highest. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) increased with the increase of density. (2) No significant difference was observed in plasma cortisol levels between G₃₀ and G₄₀ ( were significantly lower than those of G₃₀ and G₄₀ (the lowest. Similar trend was recorded in blood glucose levels. (3)Glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) activities of G₃₀ and G₄₀ were significantly higher than those of G₁₀ and G₂₀; glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) activities and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) activities increased with the increase of the stocking densityTChE) activities decreased with the increase of the stocking density. Hence, too high or too low stocking density would affect the growth performance and metabolism of juvenile ) was considered to be a suitable stocking density.