Juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) were fed eight isonitrogenous and isoenergetic purified diets for 9 wk to study their ability to utilize different dietary lipids. Each diet contained 15% of control oil mixture (corn oil-cold liver oil-lard, 1:1:1), corn oil, cod liver oil, lard, linseed oil, soybean oil, safflower oil or canola oil. No significant (P > 0.05) differences in percentage of body weight increase, feed efficiency or body composition were observed among sturgeon fed the different lipids. Tissue fatty acid compositions most sensitive to dietary lipids were those of muscle and liver, whereas brain fatty acid composition was the least sensitive. Results of this study indicate that it is possible to increase the levels of (n-3) polyunsaturated and highly unsaturated fatty acids in sturgeon muscle by feeding the fish lipids high in these fatty acids for 9 wk.