Four experimental diets were formulated; a fishmeal-based control diet containing 9 per cent supplemental fish oil, and three diets in which 50 per cent of the supplemental fish oil was substituted with either soybean oil, linseed oil or rapeseed oil (diet 1, 2 and 3, respectively). The diets were fed to fingerling gilthead bream (Sparus aurata) over a 45-day experimental test period. Growth and survival were the highest in fish fed the control diet, followed by fish fed diet 1, 2 and 3, respectively. As expected the fatty acid composition of the fish carcass of individual dietary treatments reflected the fatty acid profile of the dietary lipids fed. On the basis of these results it can be concluded that the best plant lipid source tested was soybean oil, followed by linseed oil and rapeseed oil. Considerable savings in feed costs could be achieved if soybean oil, and to a lesser extent linseed oil, could be used as a partial dietary substitute for fish oil within compound feeds for gilthead bream.