Abstract: We investgated the effect of desiccation on antioxidant enzyme activities of kuruma shrimp (Marsupenaeus japonicus). The results show that many shrimps died in the four treatment groups in 5 h after desiccation, and wet and low temperature improved the survival rate of shrimps significantly. Compared with the control, the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in hepatopancreas of the four treatment groups increased firstly and then decreased gradually, but GPx activities in the low temperature and dry (DG) and the normal temperature and wet (CS) groups decreased significantly at the beginning of the experiment (P < 0.05). The activities of glutathione S-transferase (GST) and peroxidase (POD) decreased significantly (P < 0.05). The contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) decreased firstly and then increased gradually. These results indicate that the response to oxidative stress of M.japonicus could be induced by desiccation. GPx, CAT, SOD and MDA were all sensitive to desiccation and could be regarded as monitor indices for desiccation in M.japonicus. It is beneficial to keep appropriate low and wet temperature during the transportation of M.japonicus without water, and the shrimps of average body weight of about 10 g would have a higher survival rate under such condition after 10-hour desiccation.