Since the industrial revolution, seawater has increased in temperature and acidity due to the increase in anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. To understand the effect of elevated $CO_2$ on the early life stages of fish, we reared fertilized eggs of black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegelii under three $CO_2$ concentrations (400, 850 and 1550 ppm) for 3 weeks. The standard length and wet weight of black sea bream larvae declined with enhanced $CO_2$ concentration in the rearing water (P<0.05). However, chemical analysis using ICP-OES on internal tissues of black sea bream larvae indicated that the whole-body calcium concentration increased with $CO_2$ concentration in the rearing water. These conflicting results suggest that future experiments should examine the acid-base balance to investigate the formation of bone and otolith during larval growth.