OBJECTIVE： To study the cardiac and skeletal toxicity of retinoic acid （RA） in Danio rerio at early life stage. METHODS： Danio rerio embryos of 24 hours post fertilization （hpf） were used as toxicity model and were exposed under medium with various concentrations of RA （0.1， 1， 10， 25， 100 μmol/L）. The morphology of embryos and larvae hearts were observed 24， 48 h after exposed. LC50 was calculated. Danio rerio larvae of 4 days post fertilization （dpf） were used as skeletal deformity model and were exposed with a series of RA at various concentration （0.1， 1， 10， 25， 50 μmol/L）. They were sacrificed 5 d later， and then Danio rerio skeleton were fixed for staining with alizarin red. The microscopic was used to observe the difference of stained skeleton area. RESULTS： RA caused significant adverse effects on hatching capabilities of Danio rerio embryos， and the obvious malformation features were produced during the culture process. 1-100 μmol/L RA could cause heart malformation in Danio rerio embryos and larvae， and the main heart malformation characteristics included heart linearization， pericardial edema， yolksacedema， hemocytes accumulation incardiac region. 100 μmol/L RA could inhibit the hatching capabilities of Danio rerio embryos， and caused lethal effects on embryos and larvae. The LC50 were 36.44， 23.69 μmol/L after exposed for 24， 48 h. 0.1-50 μmol/L RA induced vertebral column sclerotization of Danio rerio embryos and larvae in advance， which was positively associated with the concentration of RA. CONCLUSIONS： RA can cause cardiac and skeletal toxicity in Danio rerio embryo and larvae， which is positively associated with the concentration of RA.