The experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of intermittent food-deprivation on growth,digestive enzyme activities and some serum biochemical indices in the rice-field eel,Monopterus albus.A 64-day growth trial with five feeding regimes was conducted using the live tubificid worms(Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri)as the food at(25±1)℃.Groups of fish were deprived of food for 1,2,4,8 day(s)and then followed by satiation re-feeding for the corresponding day(s),respectively(i.e.S1F1,S2F2,S4F4 and S8F8 groups).The fish fed to satiation daily throughout the experiment served as the control group(i.e.C).The results showed that,deprived fish had significantly lower specific growth rates(SGR),relative weight gains and final body weights,but significantly higher actual feeding rates,than that of the control fish(P<0.05).Moreover,the fish in S1F1 group had significantly higher feed conversion efficiency(FCE)than those of any other groups(P<0.05).It indicated that the partial growth compensation was elicited by various extents of intermittent food-deprivation,and that the fish of S1F1 group showed the best growth compensation.The protease activity of stomach in the S1F1 group was significantly higher than that in the S2F2 group(P<0.05),and the protease activities of stomach in both of the two groups were significantly higher than those in other groups(P<0.05).There was no difference in amylase activities of liver,stomach,foregut and hindgut among fish in all groups(P>0.05).In the liver and hindgut,the S1F1 group had significantly higher lipase activities than other groups of the control,the S4F4 or the S8F8(P<0.05).In all groups of the deprived fish,the serum total protein contents and glucose contents were slightly higher and lower than that in the control group,respectively,however,there was no significant difference among the five treatments(P>0.05).There was no significant difference in serum total cholesterol level between the control group and S1F1 group(P>0.05),and the serum total cholesterol levels in these two groups were significantly higher than that of any other group(P<0.05).In contrast,among the groups of S2F2,S4F4 or S8F8,the serum total cholesterol level gradually descended with the more serious intermittent food-deprivation.These results suggested that the growth compensation in the rice-field eel could be achieved partially through the enhancement of the activities of some of digestive enzymes,food utilization efficiency,and the physiological adaptability of digestion,and the desirable growth compensation could be elicited through mild intermittent food-deprivation that incorporates one-day of feed-deprivation with one-day of re-feeding.