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This study investigated the effects of different dietary egg yolk lecithin levels (with 0% (EL0), 1% (EL1), 2% (EL2), 3% (EL3), and 4% (EL4) EL supplementation) on survival, growth, lipid metabolism, and antioxidant capacity of the early juvenile green mud crab (Scylla paramamosain). Total of 420 crabs (initial weight 8.14 ± 0.30 mg) were randomly assigned into five experimental groups (with 3 replicates). At the end of the eight-week culture experiment, the highest survival (92.86 ± 4.52%) was obtained in EL3 group. Significantly higher growth performance (final body weight (FBW), weight gain (WG), and specific growth rate (SGR)) was also observed in the EL3 group, and there was no significant difference from the EL2 group. The highest molting frequency (MF) and transcription level of ecdysone receptor (EcR) gene were also obtained in EL2 group suggested that EL could increase the MF of early juvenile S. paramamosain by up-regulating the mRNA expression of EcR and ultimately promote its growth. In addition, the higher body lipid composition along with increased EL levels suggested that EL could promote lipid absorption and disposition in S. paramamosain. Compared with other crabs, the crabs in EL2 group had significantly higher ∑n-3/∑n-6 ratio. The highest transcription level of fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) gene also observed in EL2 group. Furthermore, the crabs in EL4 group had significantly lower transcription level of fatty acid synthase (FAS) gene. This result implied that feeding of EL supress the fatty acids synthesis but induce fatty acid transport genes in S. paramamosain. In the hepatopancreas, the content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) decreased significantly with the dietary EL addition. Meanwhile, significantly higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was observed in the EL2 and EL3 groups. This indicated that dietary EL improved the antioxidant capacity of S. paramamosain. According to the polynomial regression analysis of SGR, 2.56% dietary EL level could achieve the maximum growth of early juvenile S. paramamosain. • 2.56% dietary egg yolk lecithin could achieve the maximum growth of S. paramamosain. • Dietary egg yolk lecithin suppress the FAS but induce FABPs genes in S. paramamosain. • Dietary egg yolk lecithin improved the antioxidant capacity of S. paramamosain. • Dietary egg yolk lecithin improved the nutritional value of S. paramamosain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]