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"Caloricity and protein content of the leaves of Aviconnia marina and A. officinalis were studied under four different types of decomposition viz., decomposition in the field, aerobic and anaerobic decomposition in the laboratory conditions and decomposition in freshwater. Among the different types of decomposition, the highest caloricity (7200 cal/g dry wt) and protein content (875.93 mg/g dry wt) were recorded in the leaves of A. marina decomposed in the field. Leaves of A. officinalis decomposed in the field ranked next to it with the caloricity and protein content of 6822 cal/g dry wt and 818.51 mg/g dry wt respectively. Both the species had the lowest caloricity and protein content when decomposed in freshwater. In the decomposing leaves (under field and laboratory conditions), carbon and phosphorus showed a steady decline in concentration. The converse was true in the case of nitrogen content of the decomposing leaves. Under field and laboratory conditions, C/N ratio was observed to decrease with increasing period of decomposition. The lowest value of the rate (0.24) was observed in the leaves of A. marina decomposed in the field. The ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus shoed a steady increment with increasing period of decomposition. The highest value of ?N/P (664.90) was recorded in the leaves of A. officinalis when aerobically decomposed in the laboratory. Variations in ? C: N : P indicated that generally, in the decomposing mangrove leaves, the rate of loss of phosphorus was higher than of carbon and the rate of accumulation of nitrogen was steady up to the period of achieving the highest caloricity. Feeding experiments revealed that the white prawn viz., Penaeus indicus fed with the decomposed leaves of A. marina had higher values of gross growth efficiency (10.82%), net growth efficiency (12.30%) and relative growth rate (0.0603 g/ W/18 days) than that fed with A. officinalis. The test animal fed with decomposed mangrove leaves was found to excrete higher quantity of nitrogen than phosphorus. It became apparent from the present study that decomposed mangrove leaves could be of much use in brackishwater aquaculture practices as quality fish feed and source of direct and indirect (through excretion by consumer organisms) supply of plant nutrients."