Abstract: We conducted compensatory growth experiment on black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon with initial wet weight of (1.60±0.01) g, after suffering from starvation for days at (25.0±1.5) ℃. The different groups, including control (C), S2 (starvation for 2 days), S4, S6 and S8, were deprived of food for 0 d, 2 d, 4 d, 6 d and 8 d, respectively. Then each group was fed again ad libitum for some time. Starved for 2 d, the weight of giant tiger shrimp increased slightly, the lipid decreased, the contents of water and ash increased significantly(P < 0.05), while the contents of protein did not obviously change. With prolonged starvation, body weight, protein contents and fat continued to decline, while the contents of moisture and ash continued to rise. At the end of the experiment, the body weight of group S2 and S4 was slightly lower than that of control group, but the composition of shrimp body was closed to or on the same level with the control group. The body weight of group S6 and S8 was far lower than the control group, and the composition of shrimp body was significantly different from the control group. During the recovery growth, the food conversion efficiency of each experimental group was higher than that of the control group, while the food conversion rate of each experimental group was lower than that of the control group. The results indicate that there is incomplete compensatory effect during starvation of P.monodon, and the compensatory growth is due to the increase of food conversion efficiency during re-feed.