The aim of the study was to determine the influence of dietary phospholipid (PL) levels on survival and development of first feeding gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) larvae. Larvae were fed from day 4 to 23 posthatching with an isoproteic and isolipidic formulated diet with graded levels of PL from 90-150 g kg(-1) dry matter (DM). A dietary PL content of more than 90 g kg(-1) DM seems to be necessary for sustaining growth of first feeding sea bream larvae. The survival rates of larvae fed the formulated diets (31-40% at day 23) were similar to those generally observed in marine aquaculture hatcheries with live prey feeding sequence. However, this high survival rate was not associated with high growth and the larvae showed, at the end of the study, a high proportion of individuals with abnormal liver and calculi in the urinary bladder. It is concluded that although the diets used here cannot be used in total replacement of live preys, they constitute a solid starting point for further nutritional studies with first feeding gilthead sea bream larvae.