Six isonitrogenous (crude protein: 45% of dry matter), isolipidic (crude lipid: 9% of dry matter) semi-purified diets including a cellulose control diet and five 25% glucose, maltose, dextrin, corn starch and pre-gelatinized corn starch diets were prepared. Each was fed to triplicate groups of juvenile yellowfin seabream Sparus latus (initial body weight: 3.57±0.13 g means ± SD) reared in 18 fiberglass tanks connected as a closed recirculating system at 27±1℃ for 8 weeks. The growth indices, feed efficiency (FE), protein efficiency rate (PER) and hepatic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH, EC 1.1.1.49), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH, EC 1.1.1.44), malic enzyme (ME, EC 1.1.1.40) and isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH, EC 1.1.1.42) activities were measured to evaluate the ability of yellowfin seabream to utilize different carbohydrate sources in diets. Results showed that weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), hepatosomatic index (HSI), intraperitoneal fat (IPF) ratio, FE, PER, hepatic lipogenic enzymes activities and the compositions of whole body, muscle and liver of juvenile yellowfin seabream were significantly affected by different dietary carbohydrate sources. The pre-gelatinized corn starch and maltose groups, displayed significantly better WG and SGR than other carbohydrate sources groups (P<0.05), but had no significant difference with the control group (P>0.05). Growth and WG were not dependent on the complexity of dietary carbohydrate source. Fish fed the pre-gelatinized corn starch and control diets had significantly higher FE and PER than fed glucose, maltose, dextrin and corn starch diets (P<0.05). HSI was improved by the digestible carbohydrate inclusion. The IPF ratio in the pre-gelatinized corn starch group was higher than all other diet groups. In conclusion, pre-gelatinization of corn starch and maltose at a 25% inclusion level fed to fish significantly improved the growth of juvenile yellowfin seabream. In addition, pre-gelatinization of corn starch significantly improved corn starch utilization in yellowfin seabream. Key words: Sparus latus; juvenile; carbohydrates; utilization; growth