| Summary: | The appropriate level of dietary lipids is essential for the nutrient requirements, rapid growth, and health maintenance of aquatic animals, while excessive dietary lipid intake will lead to lipid deposition and affect fish health. However, the symptoms of excessive lipid deposition in the liver of freshwater drums (<i>Aplodinotus grunniens</i>) remain unclear. In this study, a 4-month rearing experiment feeding with high-fat diets and a 6-week starvation stress experiment were conducted to evaluate the physiological alteration and underlying mechanism associated with lipid deposition in the liver of <i>A. grunniens</i>. From the results, high-fat-diet-induced lipid deposition was associated with increased condition factor (CF), viscerosomatic index (VSI), and hepatosomatic index (HSI). Meanwhile, lipid deposition led to physiological and metabolic disorders, inhibited antioxidant capacity, and exacerbated the burden of lipid metabolism. Lipid deposition promoted fatty acid synthesis but suppressed catabolism. Specifically, the transcriptome and metabolome showed significant enrichment of lipid metabolism and antioxidant pathways. In addition, the interaction analysis suggested that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (<i>PPAR</i>)-mediated 13-S-hydroxyoctadecenoic acid (13 (s)-HODE) could serve as the key target in regulating lipid metabolism and oxidative stress during lipid deposition in <i>A. grunniens</i>. Inversely, with a lipid intake restriction experiment, <i>PPARs</i> were confirmed to regulate lipid expenditure and physiological homeostasis in <i>A. grunniens</i>. These results uncover the molecular basis of and provide specific molecular targets for fatty liver control and prevention, which are of great importance for the sustainable development of <i>A. grunniens</i>.
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