Abstract: To investigate the physiological responses and related gene expression ofPampus argenteusunder high temperature stress, four temperature treatments, control group (26 ℃) and experimental groups (28, 30, 32 ℃), were set up for the experiment. The changes of tissue structure in liver, kidney and gill, the enzyme activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the relative expression level of hsp 70 gene were studied. The results showed that (1) with increasing temperature, the tissue structure damaged gradually and worsened, particularly for the tissues of liver and gill. (2) The high temperature significantly affected the antioxidant activity of the fish showing irreversible damage at 30 ℃ and 32 ℃ except for the treatment of 28℃ where the fish was getting adapted. (3) When the stress extended, the expression levels of hsp 70 gene in all treatments increased significantly at first and reached a peak in 0.5 d and then decreased quickly. It shows that under short-term heat stress, P. argenteus gradually adapted to 28 ℃ while under high temperature stress of 30 ℃ and 32 ℃ irreversible and deadly damage occurred in the fish body.