According to FAO (2008), global production from capture and aquaculture fisheries has reached 142 million tonnes, a figure which shows an increase of approximately 26 million tonnes compared to fish production in 2007. FAO reported that the scale of fish catch has reached its maximum level and it is counted that approximately 77% of the world's fishing regions are now classified as fully exploited. Since this scenario could cause the decline of new sources of fish, the fishing industry will face some problems in meeting the demand for this protein source worldwide (Meryl 2007). As a result, the fishing industry has now actively developed the aquaculture sector to ensure that the production of this protein source meets global demand. In contrast to the production rate in 1970 which recorded approximately 15.5% of fish production, the percentage is now increasing to 32.4% in 2004 and 36.93% in 2008. This demonstrates the encouraging increase over of the year averaging 7.1% per year, so it shows good potential to be expanded worldwide, including Malaysia. Lates calcarifer or its common local name Asian sea bass is a commercially important fish in Malaysia as it becomes the most popular protein source in the market. This species is a catadromous species that initially lives in freshwater at depths of 10–40 m (Greenwood 1979) and will then migrate into marine water to breed. This species can breed well in the temperature range of 15 to 28°C (Moore & Reynolds 1982). In Malaysia, marine fish aquaculture has been underway since 1973 and one of the most farmed animals is L. calcarifer. At the beginning of the aquaculture operation, there were some problems affecting the livestock husbandry of L. calcarifer, including...... middle of paper ......characterized. Therefore, the characterization of the transferrin protein in L. calcarifer will lead to the identification of the function of the glycoprotein in the fish biological system, thus providing insight into the evolution and distribution of this protein across vertebrate species. In this study, a cDNA sequence encoding transferrin from Asian sea bass (Lates calcarifer) was identified and analyzed using in silico approaches to predict and characterize its functions. The study of teleost fish proteins is important since a very limited number of sequences from this fish are available in the database, thus limiting the study of this group of fish. With ongoing efforts to identify new genes in teleost fish, it is hoped that such a study will increase the number of fish genes available in public databases and consequently facilitate the community involved in fish research in their study.