Chitin, a biopolymer found in the exoskeletons of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), has demonstrated immunostimulating activity in various fish species , and may serve as a potential prebiotic to improve growth performance , gut health, and immune responses for aquaculture. Therefore, th is study was conducted to assess the inclusion of chitin from the exoskeleton of BSFL, and purified chitin from shrimp, in the diets of channel catfish juveniles. The basal experimental diet was formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of channel catfish juveniles (37% crude protein and 19.7 MJ de gross energy per kg) . The exoskeleton of BSFL served as a rich source of chitin (BSFL-Chitin), containing 28.9% chitin. Additionally, shrimp-extracted chitin (Pure-Chitin) also was evaluated for comparison . Both chitin sources were supplemented to the basal diet at 500 and 1000 mg/kg. The feeding trial used 1,000 channel catfish juveniles (1.82 ± 0.12 g), randomly distributed into 25 experimental units at a density of 40 fish per aquarium (110 L) . The fish were fed for 60 days based on biomass (8%), which was adjusted every 5 days according to the growth rate. The recirculating aquaculture system included a biological a nd a mechanical filter , and water quality parameters were assessed thrice a week. The resulting data were subjected to analyzed two-way ANOVA, as a 2 × 3 factorial with 2 sources of chitin at 3 graded levels. The experimental cat fish exhibited a 12-fold increase from their initial weight with a fee d efficiency of ~ 0.86. H owever, the different sources and concentrations of chitin did not significantly impact production performance parameters, as fish fed all the dietary treatments exhibited similar growth. Fish fed the BSFL-Chitin 500 diet had lower viscera weights (P<0.05). The hepatosomatic index (1.4%), and intraperitoneal fat ratio (4.1%) were not affected by the inclusion of chitin in the diets of channel catfish. Digesta samples were collected to profile the intestinal microbiota by sequencing 16S rRNA using Illumina MiSeq . In addition, fish fed the various diets will be subjected to a bacterial challenge using Edwarsiella ictaluri . Blood and serum parameters are currently being evaluated.