Zooplankton is an important link between phytoplankton and higher consumers. In order to investigate the harmful effects of toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium species on zooplankton, four strains of Alexandrium spp., isolated from the Chinese coast, were used to test the species’ effects on survival and feeding rate of the brine shrimp, Artemia salina. The experiment was designed to assess the A.salina’s response in each of its life cycle stages: nauplii, metanauplii and adult. Each experiment was conducted in a 500 ml treatment was added. The toxic treatments consisted of single strains of A.minutum, A.catanella and A.tamarense(Nanhai and Donghai strain), while non-toxic species (dinoflagellate Prorocentrum donghaiense and diatom Chaetoceros minutissimus) were used as control treatments. An additional phytoplankton treatment consisted of a mixture of A.tamarense(Nanhai strain) and P.donghaiense. Alexandrium species were found to have lethal effects on the brine shrimp at a density of 2000 cells/ml. All of the brine shrimps died within 24～168 hours of inoculation with the four treatments containing single toxic Alexandrium species. During the feeding experiment, toxic Alexandrium spp. inhibited feeding rates in all three stages of A.salina, while this response was not obvious in the non-toxic P.donghaiense treatment. The body surface of those brine shrimp fed Alexandrium species was consistently covered by a sticky floc. A.salina mortality was observed to increase with the occurrence of the floc. Toxicity of the paralytic shellfish poisoning(PSP) toxin produced by the Alexandrium species was not significantly correlated with the survival or feeding rate of the brine shrimp. When mixed with P.donghaiense, the lethal effect of A.tamarense decreased as shown by an increase in the survival and feeding rate of the brine shrimp. A.salina metanauplii were found to be the life stage most sensitive to the toxic algae and hunger. In summary, toxic Alexandrium spp. Were found to have lethal effects on A.salina, and also to restrain the brine shrimp’s feeding rate. Non-toxic Prorocentrum mitigated the toxicity of Alexandrium to a certain extent. The results also imply that the sticky material on the surface of the brine shrimp body may have been an important lethal factor, rather than the PSP toxins.