In order to test whether ambient seawater with low temperature and food availability during the late Autumn and Winter seasons is suitable for artificial seed production of noble scallop Chlamys nobilis Reeve in southern China, studies were conducted to investigate the effects of low temperature and starvation on larval growth and survival of this species at temperatures of 25.5-28.0℃ and 18.2-22.5℃ in early October and late November, 2008. Three test groups were set up: (1) larvae were reared under normal temperature (25.5 -28.0℃) and fed with enough food, (2) larvae were reared under low temperature (18.2-22.5℃) and fed with enough food, and (3) larvae were reared under low temperature (182-22.5℃) and unfed. The results showed that larvae fed less, active worse, grew and developed slower under lower temperature than those under normal temperature, but there was no significant difference in larval survival between low and normal temperature groups. Starvation, however, not only significantly affected larval growth and development, but also significantly affected larval survival. When treated with the combination of low temperature and starvation, larvae displayed less survival, slower growth and development than those only under starvation. The present results may suggest that it should be unsuitable to use natural seawater for reproducing artificial seeds of noble scallop when ambient seawater temperature was lower than 23℃ in southern China.