In order to understand the physiological role of the growth axis (GH/IGF axis) in embryonic development and early growth of , a quantitative PCR method was used to study the differential expression patterns of five key growth factors (GH, GHR1, GHR2, IGF-I, and IGF-Ⅱ) along the growth axis during early life stages. The results showed that these five growth factors could all be genetically inherited from parents, and they all exhibited significantly higher paternal expression levels, except for GH. GH mRNA was detected in all embryonic development stages, but the highest expression level was observed at the 2-cell stage and hatching stage. GHR1 and GHR2 mRNA levels showed similar expression patterns during embryonic development stages, and there were significantly higher expression levels of GHR1 mRNA than that of GHR2 during all embryonic development stages, except in the morula and gastrula stages. IGF-I and IGF-Ⅱ mRNA were both detected during all embryonic development stages, and the highest expression level of IGF-I mRNA was observed at the hatching stage. IGF-Ⅱ mRNA levels peaked at the embryo encircling 2/3 of yolk sac and hatching stages. During the larval and juvenile development stages, GH mRNA expression level increased significantly from 3 d post hatching and peaked at 6 d. The GHR1 mRNA expression level increased significantly from 6 d and reached the maximum level at 30 d. GHR2 mRNA level significantly increased at 3 d, then gradually decreased to a lower expression level at 15 d, but then showed a significantly higher level from 20 d to 30 d, and also at 60 d. The expression level of IGF-I mRNA was the highest in 3 d larvae, and for IGF-Ⅱ mRNA, there was significantly increased expression from 6 d, which was maintained at a high level until 45 d. The IGF-Ⅱ mRNA level was significantly higher than that of IGF-I during the larval and juvenile stages. Correlation analysis showed that these growth factors play positive synergistic or negative antagonistic regulatory roles in the embryonic development and early growth stages. The results showed that the GH/IGF axis plays an important physiological role in regulating the embryonic development and early growth of , and provide new clues and materials for better understanding the role of the GH/IGF axis in fish growth.