Carbohydrate utilization by fish varies with feeding habits and feed processing. Extruded aquafeeds have increased digestibility of carbohydrate sources resulting from the cooking and gelatinization of this nutrient, making it readily available for all aquatic species. This study aimed at determining the effects of extrusion cooking of feeds in the digestibility of different dietary carbohydrate sources for dourado. Isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets (530 g kg−1 crude protein and 20.80 MJ kg−1 gross energy) containing either corn, toasted cassava flour, wheat flour, broken rice, cassava starch, or corn starch, in extruded or pelletized form and added of chromic oxide as inert marker, were fed to groups of juvenile dourado (73.97 ± 12.0 g; n = 40) stocked in 500-L polyethylene tanks. Extrusion cooking improved the digestibility of energy and/or starch of corn, cassava starch, wheat flour, rice and corn starch ( P < 0.05), but did not affect digestibility of toasted cassava flour ( P > 0.05). It is thus fair to infer that dourado, despite being a carnivorous species, is properly fit to digest wheat flour, rice and corn starch in natural form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]