We have studied the seasonal relationship between growth and circulating growth hormone (GH), hepatic GH-binding and plasma insulin-like growth factor-I immunoreactivity in gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata. The seasonal increase in plasma GH levels preceded by several weeks the summer increase in growth rates. In contrast, a marked increase in hepatic GH-binding with a high degree of endogenous GH occupancy was found during the period of maximum growth which suggests an enhanced sensitivity of liver to GH action. Thus, circulating levels of immunoreactive IGF-I, probably derived from the liver in response to GH action, were positively correlated with growth throughout the experimental period although a consistent relationship between growth and circulating GH was not found. In spite of this, we consider that, in gilthead sea bream, as in several other teleosts, the availability of endogenous GH can limit growth. Thus, under environmental conditions of suboptimal growth, a single intraperitoneal injection of recombinant rainbow trout GH (rtGH) induced over the dose range tested (0.75, 1.5, 3 mug g BW-1) an increase in plasma IGF-I-like immunoreactivity comparable to that seen during the period of maximum growth.