Hypoxia occurs in the natural and aquaculture water environment frequently. Golden Pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) is a hypoxia-sensitive fish, so we employed (31.59 ± 3.01g) juvenile golden pompano to study the effect of acute and chronic hypoxia stress on the liver by physiological and histological methods. Individuals were exposed to 3﹣24 h of acute or 14 d of chronic hypoxia stress at room temperature. The histological changes in the liver were observed to analyze the tissue injury. Catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH) and malonic dialdehyde (MDA) activities were measured to determine the antioxidant effects in the liver tissue. Data were statistically analyzed. The liver tissue gradually showed vacuoles, expanded blood sinus, and blurred hepatic lobule structure during acute hypoxia. At 24 h acute hypoxia, liver tissue even showed cell fusion and local cell necrosis (Fig. 1e). At 14 d chronic hypoxia, liver tissue showed local cell necrosis and vacuolation inside the cells (Fig. 1f). Cell structure was decentralized, intercellular connection was divided, cell membrane was dissolved, organelles were disrupted, nucleus was decomposed, blood sinus was enlarged, while only rough endoplasmic reticulum was evidently observed (Fig. 2c, d). In acute hypoxia, CAT activity was continuously increased, SOD and GSH activities was recovered after increase (P < 0.05). In chronic hypoxia stress, SOD, GSH activities were significantly increased (P < 0.05), while CAT activity was significantly decreased (P < 0.05) (Fig. 3a﹣c). MDA activity firstly was increased and then recovered in acute hypoxia, but increased significantly (P < 0.05) at 14 d of hypoxia (Fig. 3d). The results show that golden pompano liver tissue structure is seriously damaged and is in severe oxidative stress under hypoxia stress. Hypoxia stress in chronic hypoxia is more serious than that in acute hypoxia.