is a very important commercial fish distributed widely in the Yangtze estuary. It is a migratory species which grows and matures in the coastal waters and then naturally migrates into the Yangtze estuary for spawning. Otolith growth and development at different stages in larval and juvenile can help to understand their characteristics under natural conditions. An understanding of otolith early growth and development is essential not only for wild population conservation but also for artificial seeding production. In this study, a total of 103 larval and juvenile were collected in the Yangtze estuary, from April to August in 2014. Otolith analysis revealed that the age of specimens ranged from 5 to 48 days. To study the early growth and development of different stages, the body length of 103 individual was measured. Statistics showed that the cubic function best described the increase of body length with age. The increase of body length can be divided into three stages, 5-11 d, 12-30 d, and 31-48 d. The growth rate was significantly different among these stages (<0.05). To study the morphological development, the otolith length and otolith width were measured, and the analysis showed that the increase of otolith length and width increased with body length. After 17 to 19 days, the growth rate increased by about 2-fold. Piecewise regression analysis between otolith length, width, and otolith age was carried out in order to determine the allometric growth pattern, and the inflection point of otolith length and otolith width both occurred at 19-20 days. The growth rate before the knot was slow, while it was rapid after the knot. The otolith morphology of changed significantly at different stages in the early life history. The otolith is circular in the yolk-sac and preflexion stages. Otolith length growth is greater than that of otolith width in the flexion stage, and the otolith becomes oval. After the form becomes stable, the ratio of otolith length and width also remains stable.