Abstract: microRNAs（miRNAs） are a class of endogenous small non-coding RNAs with length of about 19～25 nucleotides. miRNAs mainly are involved in gene expression regulation at post-transcriptional level. It has been demonstrated that a given miRNA might have multiple different gene targets, and a given gene might be targeted by multiple miRNAs. "miRNA-gene" interaction motifs have been documented play important regulatory roles in the development, reproductive processes, cell proliferation and apoptosis, metabolic processes and diseases in eukaryotic organisms. In this study, we reviewed the identification of miRNA target gene, the way of miRNA regulating target gene and the research progress of "miRNA-gene" motif in aquatic animals so that we can further understand biological roles of miRNAs in aquatic animals systematically, and also, it can help us explore the molecular mechanisms of "miRNA-gene" motifs participating in important physiological and biochemical processes.