The metallothionein （MT） concentration in hepatopancreas of Litopenaeus vannamei changed significantly with the increasing of metal ions concentration and prolongation of exposure time （ P 〈 0.05 ）, whereas that in the control groups had no marked changes （ P 〉 0.05 ）. Exposed to three heavy metal ions, the MT concentration in hepatopancreas changed very significantly in 6 h （P〈0.01）. The MTconcentration inducted by Cu^2＋（0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1 mg?L^-1）, Zn^2＋（1, 2, 5 mg?L^-1） and Cd^2＋ （0.05, 0.1 mg?L^-1 ） increased in 96 h with time and changed stably after 48 h. In addition, the MT concentration inducted by Zn^2＋ （ 10 mg?L^-1 ） and Cd^2＋ （0.25, 0.5 mg?L^-1） was up to max. at 48 h, began to decrease with time passing by, and still higher than that in the control groups. Meanwhile the inductive ratio of three heavy metal ions on metallothionein concentration were Cd^2＋ 〉Cu^2＋ 〉Zn^2＋ in experimental time.