Phospholipid is the predominant polar lipid which plays a central role in growth performance, survival, salt-resistance, and temperature tolerance for fish, especially for the larvae. The biological characters of phospholipid, its digestion, absorption and transport in fish, its synthetic pathways, and the interactions between phospholipid and cholesterol were introduced in this review. Moreover, differences in the requirements of phospholipid between fish and crustacean were compared, in order to provide a theoretical guidance for the applications of phospholipid in fish culture.