The amino acid composition and proteomic pattern of the muscle proteins from two teleosts, the mandarin fish, Siniperca chuatsi and silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix were analyzed by HPLC and two dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. The total amount of essential amino acids in S. chuatsi is 34.7 mg•g-1 of the muscle protein, while that in H. molitrix is 33.6 mg• g-1. The values for the tasteenhancer amino acids (aspartic acid and glutamic acid) are 23.8 mg•g -1 in S. chuatsi and 15.3 mg•g-1 in H. molitrix. The muscle proteins from the two types of fish were resolved into a similar number of spots in 2-D gels (about 260 at pI 310), although the proteinsize distributions are dramatically different between the two teleosts. Our study is the first to demonstrate significant differences in protein composition and patterns between two species of farmed fish, and provides reference values for aquaculture and efforts aimed at fish stock improvement and fish protein utilization. 24 Refs. In English.